TEXT,  TYPE, AND  STYLE 

A  Compendium  of 
Atlantic  Us ae 


. 


TEXT,  TYPE 
AND  STYLE 

A  COMPENDIUM  OF  ATLANTIC  USAGE 


BY 

GEORGE  B.  IVES 


THE  ATLANTIC  MONTHLY  PRESS 
BOSTON 


Copyright,  1921 
BY  GEORGE  B.  IVES 

First  Impression,  July,  1921 
Second  Impression,  August,  1922 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


TO  MY  SONS 


1254282 


The  author  takes  pleasure  in  acknowledging  his 
indebtedness  to  the  Oxford  University  Press  for 
permission  to  make  extracts  from  Messrs.  H.  W. 
and  F.  G.  Fowler's  volume,  "The  King's  Eng- 
lish" He  is  under  deep  obligation  also  to  M.  A. 
DeWolfe  Howe,  Esq.,  andLanius  D.  Evans,  Esq., 
who  have  read  the  proofs  of  the  book,  and  not 
only  have  made  many  invaluable  suggestions,  but 
have  saved  him  from  more  than  one  pitfall. 
Miss  A .  M.  Tankard  of  the  Rumford  Press  has 
gone  far  beyond  her  professional  duty  in  helping 
to  give  the  book  whatever  value  it  may  possess. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION i 

PROOF-READERS  AND  PROOF-READING 23 

SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION 41 

PUNCTUATION 52 

The  Period 65 

Ellipsis  Points 68 

The  Colon 7° 

The  Semicolon 78 

The  Comma 89 

The  Dash 125 

The  en-dash 125 

The  2-em  dash 125 

The  dash  proper,  or  em-dash .127 

The  Hyphen 140 

Parentheses 141 

Brackets 145 

The  Exclamation  Mark 146 

The  Question  Mark 150 

Quotation  Marks          153 

The  Apostrophe 161 

ABBREVIATIONS 163 

CAPITALIZATION 168 

ITALICS 179 

SPELLING 186 

COMPOUND  WORDS 197 

SUGGESTIONS  CONCERNING  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

I.  "Who,"  "Which,"  or  "That,"  with  a  Personal 

or  Quasi-personal  Antecedent 207 

II.  "Whom  "used  for  "Who"  .  2IO 


vi  CONTENTS 

III.  Than  Whom  — Than  Which 211 

IV.  The  "And  Which"  Construction 213 

V.  "That"  as  a  Relative 216 

VI.  Omission  of  the  Relative 225 

VII.  Whoever  [Whosoever],  Whomever  [Whomsoever]  228 

COMMON  PARTS 230 

Correlatives 236 

NUMBER 

I.  Of  Verbs 242 

II.  Of  Pronouns 252 

OMISSION  OF  WORDS 

I.  Verbs 255 

II.  Nouns 256 

III.  Pronouns 257 

IV.  The  Conjunction  "That"     .     .     .     .     .     .      .258 

V.  Repetition  of  Conjunction  "That"       ....  262 

DIVERS  MATTERS 

Hanging  Participle 264 

Nouns  Used  as  Verbs 266 

The  Split  Infinitive 267 

Subjunctive  Forms 268 

The  Indefinite  Article,  before  "h"  and  "u"     .     .      .  269 

Adjectives  and  Adverbs  ending  in  "ly"       ....  269 

Special  Words  and  Phrases 271 

CONCLUSION 297 

INDEX 299 


TEXT,  TYPE,  AND  STYLE 


TEXT,  TYPE,  AND  STYLE 

INTRODUCTION 

THIS  book  is  not  intended  as  a  general  "hand- 
book," or  "manual  of  style,"  or  as  a  general  guide 
to  the  study  of  English,  or  as  anything  more  than 
its  sub-title  indicates:  that  is  to  say,  an  effort  to 
put  into  words  the  principles  and  the  rules  —  so 
far  as  those  principles  can  be  expressed  in  rules 
—  that  govern  the  preparation  of  copy  and  the 
handling  of  proofs  of  the  "Atlantic  Monthly." 
It  would  be  more  accurate  to  say  that  that  was 
the  purpose  of  the  book  when  first  projected;  for 
it  was  so  long  ago,  that  the  Atlantic  Monthly 
Press  was  then  in  its  earliest  infancy,  and  little 
thought  had  been  given  to  the  matter  of  the 
"style"  to  be  followed  in  such  books  as  it  might 
publish.  As,  however,  its  list  of  publications  is 
rapidly  growing,  it  has  become  necessary  to  de- 
cide upon  the  style  to  be  adopted  in  respect  to 
those  matters  that  are  within  the  province  of  the 
printer  or  publisher  rather  than  of  the  author; 
and  the  scope  of  this  book  has  accordingly  been 
broadened  so  far  as  to  indicate  the  points  —  com- 
paratively few  in  number  —  wherein  the  usage  of 
the  magazine  differs  from  that  of  Atlantic  books. 


2  INTRODUCTION 

Although  many  printing-offices  and  publishers 
issue  their  own  handbooks  or  manuals,  and  al- 
though there  is,  in  addition,  a  large  number  of 
volumes  —  textbooks  and  others  —  dealing  with 
the  general  subjects  of  typography,  punctuation, 
grammar,  syntax,  rhetoric,  including  all  the  mat- 
ters here  discussed,  this  book  would  seem  to  be 
justified,  at  least,  by  two  or  three  facts. 

1.  No  such  manual  has  been  issued  by  the 
printing-office  at  which  the  "Atlantic"  and  many 
Atlantic  books  are  printed;  indeed,  the  character 
of  the  work  done  there  is  so  varied  that  it  would 
be  impossible  to  formulate  rules  which  would  ap- 
ply to  more  than  a  small  part  of  that  work.    The 
special  force  assigned  to  work  on  the  "Atlantic" 
is  supposed  to  follow  Atlantic  usage,  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  experienced  proof-reader  in  charge. 
Other  Atlantic  books  are  printed  at  different  of- 
fices, whose  typographical  usages  often  vary,  and 
never  agree  in  all  points  with  Atlantic  usage. 

2.  The  "Atlantic"  is  being  used,  to  an  ever- 
increasing  extent,   in    connection  with   regular 
instruction  in  English,  in  schools  all  over  the 
country. 

3.  The  "Atlantic"  is  frequently  honored  by 
communications,  from  teachers  and  others,  call- 
ing attention  to  matters  of  punctuation,  or  what 
not,  which  seem  to  them  worthy  of  comment; 
sometimes  in  a  critical  vein,  sometimes  merely 


INTRODUCTION  3 

seeking  information  as  to  the  principles  by  which 
our  practice  is  guided. 

The  main  difference  between  the  magazine  and 
Atlantic  books  —  and  the  one  to  which  nine 
tenths  of  the  communications  refer  —  is  the  use  in 
the  former  of  single  quotation  marks,  instead  of 
double  ones,  which,  in  accordance  with  the  general 
practice  in  this  country,  are  used  in  the  books.1 
This  departure  from  the  usual  American  custom 
is  fully  explained  in  the  section  on  "Quotation 
Marks."  The  only  other  difference  that  needs  to 
be  specially  mentioned  here  is  in  the  matter  of 
division  of  words,  where  much  less  latitude  is  al- 
lowed in  the  books  than  in  the  magazine,  as  is  suf- 
ficiently explained  in  the  section  on  ' '  Spacing  and 
Syllabification."  Generally  speaking,  the  wider  the 
type  page,  the  easier  it  is  to  secure  even  spacing 
of  the  lines;  and  in  measures  of  23  or  24  picas 
(about  four  inches)  ,2  or  more,  the  somewhat  un- 
usual divisions  that  are  allowed,  at  need,  in  the 
narrow  14-pica  columns  of  the  "Atlantic,"  are  for- 
bidden. Such  other  differences  as  may  exist  are 
mentioned  under  the  appropriate  headings. 

The  plan  of  the  present  work  is  shaped  by  the 
purpose  that  it  is  intended  to  serve :  that  is  to  say, 

1  It  should,  perhaps,  be  said  that,  in  the  very  earliest  publica- 
tions of  the  Press,  which  were  collections  of  articles  that  had  ap- 
peared in  the  Atlantic,  the  type  was  set  from  the  pages  of  the  maga- 
zine as  copy,  and  the  single  quotation  marks  were  not  changed. 

2  The  type  page  of  this  book  is  20  picas  wide. 


4  INTRODUCTION 

it  discusses,  almost  exclusively,  such  matters  of 
typography  and  style,  and,  to  some  extent,  of  syn- 
tax, as  have  been  brought  to  the  author's  atten- 
tion in  his  work  on  the  copy  and  proofs  of  the 
"Atlantic"  during  nearly  seventeen  years,  and  of 
Atlantic  books  since  such  things  have  been.  The 
result  is,  necessarily,  that  some  points  are  omit- 
ted which  are  quite  as  important  as  some  that  are 
included.  There  has  been  no  attempt  to  make  an 
exhaustive  list  of  words  often  inaccurately  used, 
or  of  questionable  constructions.  The  conditions 
under  which  the  work  has  been  done  have  been 
such  that  the  preparation  of  such  a  list  would  have 
meant  simply  drawing  without  stint  from  one  or 
more  of  the  general  textbooks  on  English,  or  from 
such  a  work  as  "The  King's  English." 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  "drawing 
v/ithout  stint"  from  the  last-mentioned  work  and 
using  it  freely,  as  the  author  has  done.  It  is  an 
inexhaustible  mine  of  instruction  combined  with 
entertainment;  only  the  surface  of  it  has  been 
scratched  by  extracting  the  passages  quoted  in 
the  following  pages ;  and  if  their  perusal  shall  lead 
readers  to  resort  to  this  volume  of  the  Messrs. 
Fowler,  —  authors,  also,  of  the  compact  and  use- 
ful little  "Concise  English  Dictionary,"  based 
upon  the  monumental "  New  English  Dictionary," 
—  the  present  book  will  have  served  at  least  one 
worthy  purpose.  The  writer  has  turned  to  "The 


INTRODUCTION  5 

King's  English  "  again  and  again;  not  for  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  subjects  to  be  discussed,  because, 
as  has  just  been  said,  these  have  in  all  cases  been 
suggested  by  his  daily  work,  but  for  assistance  in 
giving  a  name  to  a  problem,  or  in  stating  it  —  and 
almost  never  in  vain.  The  section  on  "Common 
Parts,"  including  "Correlatives,"  is  an  excellent 
instance:  although  all  the  various  "cases"  here 
mentioned  under  that  heading  —  and  some  of 
them  are  not  mentioned  by  the  Messrs.  Fowler  — 
were  in  mind  as  needing  attention,  the  possibility 
of  grouping  them  all  under  one  comprehensive 
title  had  not  suggested  itself. 

In  the  Preface  the  authors  say  of  the  plan  of 
their  book,  that  it  "was  dictated  by  the  following 
considerations.  It  is  notorious  that  English  writ- 
ers seldom  look  into  a  grammar  or  composition 
book;  the  reading  of  grammars  is  repellent  be- 
cause, being  bound  to  be  exhaustive  on  a  greater 
or  less  scale,  they  must  give  much  space  to  the  ob- 
vious or  the  unnecessary;  and  composition  books 
are  often  useless  because  they  enforce  their  warn- 
ings only  by  fabricated  blunders  against  which 
every  tyro  feels  himself  quite  safe.  The  principle 
adopted  here  has  therefore  been  (i)  to  pass  by  all 
rules,  of  whatever  absolute  importance,  that  are 
shown  by  observation  to  be  seldom  or  never 
broken;  and  (2)  to  illustrate  by  living  examples, 
with  the  name  of  a  reputable  authority  attached 


6  INTRODUCTION 

to  each,  all  blunders  that  observation  shows  to 
be  common. 

"  Further,  since  the  positive  literary  virtues  are 
not  to  be  taught  by  brief  quotations,  nor  other- 
wise attained  than  by  improving  the  gifts  of  na- 
ture with  wide  or  careful  reading,  whereas  some- 
thing may  really  be  done  for  the  negative  virtues 
by  mere  exhibition  of  what  should  be  avoided,  the 
examples  collected  have  had  to  be  examples  of  the 
bad  and  not  of  the  good." 

The  entertaining  quality  of  the  book  is  due 
largely  to  these  "examples  of  the  bad,"  —  espe- 
cially in  view  of  the  eminent  names  often  attached 
to  the  worst  of  them,  —  and  to  the  authors'  com- 
ments on  them.  An  instance  will  be  found  on  page 
1 08  below,  in  connection  with  Emerson's  foible  of 
putting  a  comma  between  a  noun  and  its  verb. 
One  can  but  wonder  and  take  courage  when  one 
learns  of  the  sins  against  good  English  committed 
by  some  of  the  greatest  writers,  and  how  curi- 
ously addicted  some  of  them  seem  to  be  to  spe- 
cial idiosyncrasies  of  syntax  or  punctuation. 

The  present  writer  has  appropriated  only  one 
or  two  of  the  Messrs.  Fowler's  illustrative  exam- 
ples, but  has  taken  his  own  as  they  have  "hap- 
pened" in  the  course  of  his  reading  —  largely,  of 
proofs,  and,  to  some  extent,  of  miscellaneous 
works.  Only  two  books  —  "Sesame  and  Lilies" 
and  "Diana  of  the  Crossways"  —  did  he  reread 


INTRODUCTION  7 

for  the  purpose  of  finding  illustrations  of  the  pecu- 
liar methods  of  punctuation  of  Ruskin  and  Mere- 
dith. He  has  not  confined  himself  to  "examples 
of  the  bad,"  because  the  reason  alleged  by  the 
Messrs.  Fowler  does  not  exist  in  his  case;  but  he 
has  attempted  to  distinguish  between  good  and 
bad  by  a  word  of  explanation  or  by  bracketed 
words  or  points,  instead  of  adopting  the  too 
schoolbookish  device  of  labeling  them  "right"  or 
"wrong." 

As  to  very  many  of  the  "examples  of  the  bad," 
it  should  be  said  that  they  were  found  in  "Atlan- 
tic" copy  in  the  form  in  which  they  are  here 
printed ;  but  that  they  were  corrected  to  conform 
to  the  usage  of  the  office,  before  appearing  in  type. 

Of  the  numerous  handbooks  and  textbooks  that 
the  author  has  examined,  only  one  or  two  seem  to 
call  for  special  mention :  not  that  they  are  not  all 
that  they  claim  to  be,  but  because,  in  most  of 
them,  the  plan  touches  the  plan  of  this  book  only 
at  isolated  points.  He  has  explained  elsewhere :  the 
difficulty  that  he  found  in  making  profitable  use 
of  Professor  Summey's  elaborate  and  painstaking 
work  on  "  Modern  Punctuation," 2  because  its  aim 
seems  to  be  to  show  what  modern  punctuation 
is,  rather  than  what  it  ought  to  be ;  but  he  bears 

1  See  under  "  Punctuation,"  p.  53  infra. 

3  Modern  Punctuation,  by  George  Summey,  Jr.,  Associate  Pro- 
fessor of  English  in  the  North  Carolina  State  College.  Oxford 
University  Press,  1919. 


8  INTRODUCTION 

willing  testimony  to  the  fact  that,  when  Professor 
Summey  expresses  a  definite  opinion  upon  any 
point,  it  almost  invariably  seems  a  sound  one  — 
as  will  appear  more  than  once  in  these  pages.  Mr. 
Horace  Hart's  compact  little  book  of  "Rules  for 
Compositors  and  Readers  at  the  University  Press, 
Oxford,"  which  has  Keen  reprinted  many  times 
(the  edition  of  1914  was  the  ninth  for  publication), 
has  been  very  useful,  as  has  the  late  Wendell  P. 
Garrison's  entertaining  paper, "  A  Dissolving  View 
of  Punctuation,"  printed  in  the  "Atlantic"  for 
August,  1906. 

A  new  edition  was  published  in  1906  of  William 
Cobbett's  "English  Grammar"  (which  first  ap- 
peared in  1817),  with  a  biographical  and  critical 
introduction  by  Hon.  H.  L.  Stephen  of  the  High 
Court  of  Calcutta.  The  original  title-page  tells  us 
that  the  book  was  "intended  for  the  use  of  schools 
and  of  young  persons  in  general ;  but  more  espe- 
cially for  the  use  of  soldiers,  sailors,  apprentices, 
and  plough-boys"  —  that  is  to  say,  as  Judge  Ste- 
phen suggests,  "of  persons  who,  like  Cobbett  him- 
self, after  they  had  once  been  taught  to  read,  had 
to  depend  entirely  on  their  own  resources  for  any- 
thing else  that  they  might  wish  to  learn." 

The  famous  Radical  and  "Reformer,"  whose 
hand  was  always  raised  against  those  in  authority, 
enlisted  in  the  army  at  the  age  of  2 1 ,  and  served 
in  New  Brunswick  from  1785  to  1791,  "during 


INTRODUCTION  9 

which  time  he  tells  us  that  he  learnt  grammar. 
'The  edge  of  my  berth,  or  that  of  the  guard  bed, 
was  my  seat  to  study  in,  my  knapsack  was  my 
bookcase ;  a  bit  of  board  lying  on  my  lap  was  my 
writing-table ;  and  the  task  did  not  demand  any- 
thing like  a  year  of  my  life.'  Having  learnt  gram- 
mar, he  found  himself  prepared  to  take  up  the 
position  which  he  characteristically  describes  in 
the  same  work:  'How  many  false  pretenders  to 
erudition  have  I  exposed  to  shame  merely  by  my 
knowledge  of  grammar!  How  many  of  the  inso- 
lent and  ignorant  great  and  powerful  have  I  pulled 
down  and  made  little  and  despicable!  And  with 
what  ease  have  I  conveyed,  upon  numerous  im- 
portant subjects,  information  and  instruction  to 
millions  now  alive,  and  provided  a  store  of  both 
for  millions  yet  unborn!"  \ 

In  the  second  edition  of  his  book,  published  in 
1822,  Cobbett  printed  a  dedication  (dated  No- 
vember, 1820)  to  the  hapless  Caroline  of  Bruns- 
wick, Queen  Consort  of  George  IV,  as  "the  only 
one  amongst  all  the  Royal  Personages  of  the 
present  age  that  appears  to  have  justly  estimated 
the  value  of  The  People."  Whatever  the  merits 
may  have  been  of  the  scandalous  dissension  be- 
tween that  unfortunate,  if  unwise,  lady  and  the 
"First  Gentleman  of  Europe,"  she  was  at  that 
time  the  idol  of  the  mob,  one  of  whose  spokesmen 
Cobbett  was;  and  the  significance  of  this  dedica- 


io  INTRODUCTION 

tion  was  further  emphasized  by  the  Inclusion  in 
this  second  edition  of  "Six  Lessons,  intended  to 
prevent  statesmen  from  using  false  grammar,  and 
from  writing  in  an  awkward  manner,"  in  which 
the  literary  style  of  the  Prince  Regent,  Speaker 
Sutton,  Lord  Castlereagh,  the  Duke  of  Welling- 
ton, and  others,  is  held  up  to  ridicule,  perhaps  a 
bit  hypercritically,  but  with  comments  that  suffi- 
ciently disclose  the  main  purpose  of  the  book  — 
to  belabor  and  poke  bitter  fun  at  his  political 
enemies. 

The  "Lesson"  on  "Specimens  of  False  Gram- 
mar, taken  from  the  Writings  of  Doctor  Johnson 
and  from  those  of  Dr.  Watts"  contains  a  passage 
which  fully  justifies  Judge  Stephen's  remark  that 
"It  was  thoroughly  consistent  with  the  whole  of 
Cobbett's  character  [he  knew  absolutely  nothing 
of  Latin]  that  he  should  despise  any  knowledge  he 
did  not  possess." 

After  referring  satirically  to  the  fact  that  the 
errors  he  proposes  to  point  out  were  committed 
by  the  author  of  a  grammar  and  a  dictionary  of 
the  English  Language  and  the  author  of  a  work  on 
the  subject  of  Logic,  who  were  said  to  be  "two 
of  the  most  learned  men  that  England  ever  pro- 
duced," Cobbett  proceeds:  — 

"Another  object,  in  the  producing  of  these 
specimens,  is  to  convince  you  that  a  knowledge  of 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages  does  not  prevent 


INTRODUCTION  n 

men  from  writing  bad  English.  Those  languages 
are,  by  impostors,  and  their  dupes,  called  'the 
learned  languages ' ;  and  those  who  have  paid  for 
having  studied  them,  are  said  to  have  received  'a 
liberal  education.'  These  appellations  are  false, 
and,  of  course,  they  lead  to  false  conclusions. 
Learning,  as  a  noun,  means  knowledge,  and  learned 
means  knowing,  or  possessed  of  knowledge.  .  .  . 
If  the  Reports  drawn  up  by  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, and  which  are  compositions  discovering 
in  every  sentence  ignorance  the  most  profound, 
were  written  in  Latin,  should  we  then  call  them 
learned? 

"The  cause  of  the  use  of  this  false  appellation, 
'learned  languages/  is  this,  that  those  who  teach 
them  in  England  have,  in  consequence  of  their 
teaching,  very  large  estates  in  house  and  land,1 
which  are  public  property,  but  which  are  now  used 
for  the  sole  benefit  of  those  teachers,  who  are, 
in  general,  the  relations  and  dependents  of  the 
Aristocracy." 

In  one  of  the  "Lessons"  added  in  the  second 
edition,  the  author  again  discharges  his  spleen,  in 
a  different  direction. 

"I  have  before  me  'A  charge  delivered  to  the 
Clergy  of  the  Diocese  of  Winchester,  at  a  primary 
visitation  of  that  diocese,  by  George  Tomline,  D.D., 
F.R.S.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Winchester,  Prelate  of  the 

1  The  italics,  both  here  and  below,  are  all  in  the  original. 


12  INTRODUCTION 

Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter'  We  will  not  stop 
here  to  inquire  what  a  'prelate's'  office  may  re- 
quire of  him  relative  to  an  Order  which  history 
tells  us  arose  out  of  a  favourite  lady  dropping  her 
garter  at  a  dance;  but,  I  must  observe,  that,  as  the 
titles  here  stand,  it  would  appear,  that  the  last  is 
deemed  the  most  honourable,  and  of  most  impor- 
tance to  the  Clergy!  This  Bishop,  whose  name  was 
Pretty  man,  was  the  tutor  of  that  William  Pitt  who 
was  called  the  heaven-born  Minister,  and  a  history 
of  whose  life  has  been  written  by  this  Bishop.  So 
that  we  have  here,  a  Doctor  of  Divinity,  a  Fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society,  a  Prelate  of  the  Most  Noble 
Order  of  the  Garter,  and  a  Bishop  of  one  of  the  rich- 
est sees  in  the  whole  world,  who,  besides,  is  an  His- 
torian, and  was  Tutor  to  a  heaven-born  Minister. 
Let  us  then  see  what  sort  of  writing  comes  from 
such  a  source." 

All  this  is  not  to  say  that  there  is  not  much  use- 
ful instruction  and  good  sense  to  be  found  in  this 
extraordinarily  entertaining  book;  but,  to  quote 
once  more  from  Judge  Stephen's  Introduction  to 
the  new  edition,  "the  illustrations,  drawn  from 
current  politics  and  from  the  most  respectable 
authorities  in  contemporary  literature,  are,  after 
all,  the  parts  of  the  book  which  have  secured  for  it 
whatever  position  it  is  that  it  holds  in  English 
literature." 

The  temptation  to  quote  is  so  strong  that  it  has 


INTRODUCTION  13 

perhaps  been  yielded  to  over-much ;  but  the  pres- 
ent writer  reckons  as  among  the  chief  compensa- 
tions of  his  labor  the  pleasure  due  to  his  having 
been  led  to  read  Cobbett  and  the  Messrs.  Fowler. 

Something  has  been  said  of  the  use  of  the  "At- 
lantic" in  schools  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 
Will  its  use,  we  wonder,  be  discouraged  by  such 
deliverances  as  this,  reported  in  the  newspapers  as 
this  book  is  being  prepared  for  press?  Under  the 
heading,  " '  It  is  Me*  is  all  right,"  we  read  that  the 
Superintendent  of  Schools  of  Cook  County,  Illi- 
nois, of  which  Chicago  forms  a  very  large  part, 
said  that  "the  correct  form,  'It  is  I,'  sounds 
stilted  and  even  egotistical,  and  that  it  does  no  good 
to  teach  children  forms  of  expression '  outlawed  by 
common  usage  and  a  sense  of  good  form.' ' 

If  either  "common  usage  "  or  "a  sense  of  good 
form"  demands  "  It  is  me,"  why  does  it  not  de- 
mand "Between  you  and  I  "?  However,  there  is 
still  a  ray  of  hope  for  those  teachers  who  prefer 
not  to  depart  from  grammatically  correct  usage : 
the  Cook  County  Superintendent  does  not  "in- 
struct" them  to  teach  their  pupils  to  say,  "  It  is 
me,"  but  simply  assures  them  that  they  will  not 
be  "reprimanded"  if  they  do.  And  it  has  been 
rather  encouraging  to  note  the  tone  of  journalistic 
comment,  serious  and  otherwise,  —  especially  the 
latter,  —  on  this  outbreak. 

"The  King's  English"  seems  to  err  on  the  side 


H  INTRODUCTION 

of  liberality  in  this  particular  matter.  "Many 
educated  people  feel  that  in  saying  It  is  I,  Whom 
do  you  mean?  instead  of  It's  me,  Who  do  you 
mean?  they  will  be  talking  like  a  book,  and  they 
justifiably  prefer  geniality  to  grammar.  But  in 
print,  unless  it  is  dialogue,  the  correct  forms  are 
advisable." 

The  word  "correct"  brings  to  the  writer's  mind 
what  might  be  called  an  essay  on  "correctness," 
which  he  once  received  from  a  contributor  to  the 
"Atlantic"  (who  happened  to  be  an  old  friend  of 
his) ,  to  whom  he  had  suggested  changing  the  phrase 
"adventures,  like  some  of  Dumas's  romances,"  to 
"adventures,  as  in  some  of  Dumas's  romances." 

"You  are  still,  I  see,  under  the  load  of  'correct- 
ness '  —  that  is,  you  want  all  sentences  to  be  able 
to  pass  the  examination  tests  of  Harvard  College 
and  Hill's  rhetoric.  Now  the  first  thing  on  which 
you  make  a  suggestion,  of  'as  in*  for  'like,'  is  a 
regular  old  stock  mistake,  if  you  choose  to  call  it 
so,  in  all  the  best  writers  from  Homer  down.  A 
comparison  is  made  between  a  thing  in  one  con- 
nection, and  the  same  thing,  or  the  like  thing,  in 
another  —  but  in  order  to  be  concise  instead  of 
lumbering,  the  author  makes  his  comparison  di- 
rectly with  a  person,  place,  book,  with  which  the 
second  thing  is  connected.  Homer  says, '  Hair  like 
the  Graces,'  —  not '  like  that  of  the  Graces ' ;  Livy 
says,  'the  most  just  triumph  since  Camillus,'  — 


INTRODUCTION  15 

not  'since  the  triumph  of  Camillus.'  It  is  per- 
fectly true  that  '  adventures '  are  not  like  '  Dumas's 
romances'  — they  are  like  'the  adventures  in,'  or 
'those  of,'  etc. ;  but  the  'jumping  comparison '  is  a 
commonplace  device." 

Doubtless,  it  is  perfectly  true  also  that  strict 
compliance  with  the  rules  of  syntax  sometimes 
results  in  "lumbering"  phraseology;  but  it  is  be- 
lieved, nevertheless,  to  be  the  better  and  safer  way, 
not  to  insist  that  an  author  shall  always  write 
with  absolute  correctness,  but  to  make  sure,  if  pos- 
sible, whether  he  really  desires  to  depart  from  it. 

A  word  as  to  the  shape  in  which  copy  should 
be  sent  in  for  consideration,  and  for  printing  if 
accepted. 

There  is  no  question  that  typewritten  copy, 
if  reasonably  well  done,  is  most  desirable;  but 
it  can  be  so  bad  that  fairly  legible  long-hand  is  to 
be  preferred  to  it;  and  some  of  that  sent  in  to 
the  "Atlantic"  is  of  a  quality  likely  to  prevent  its 
being  considered  on  the  merit  of  its  contents. 

It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  decide  whether  the 
badness  of  a  manuscript  is  due  to  imperfections  in 
the  machine  or  to  the  inexpertness  of  the  operator ; 
occasionally  the  poor  quality  of  the  paper  is  to 
blame;  but  one  or  another,  or  all  three,  are  the 
occasion  of  a  great  deal  of  unnecessary  trouble  and 
waste  of  time  in  editing  the  copy,  besides  greatly 


16  INTRODUCTION 

increasing  the  chances  of  mistakes  in  the  type  — 
to  the  author's  disadvantage. 

1.  A  good  machine,  in  which  all  letters  and 
other  characters  print  with  equal  force  and  dis- 
tinctness, and  in  which  the  alignment  is  accurate, 
is  the  first  desideratum. 

2.  All    typewritten    copy    should    be    double 
spaced :  that  is  to  say,  with  space  between  every 
two  lines  for  another  line.   There  are  inevitably 
some  changes  or  corrections  to  be  made,  and  with- 
out this  extra  space  they  cannot  be  made  clearly 
and  intelligibly. 

3.  It  is  a  fact  that,  in  a  very  large  proportion 
of  manuscripts  submitted,  the  capitals  are  often 
printed  below  the  line  and  very  indistinctly.  This 
is  presumably  due  to  careless  handling  of  the 
shift-key.    It  can  hardly  fail  to  be  noticed  if  the 
manuscript  is  revised;  and  the  letters  should  be 
mended  by  the  author,  instead  of  being  left  to 
those  who  have  the  printing  in  charge.  This  may 
seem  to  be  a  small  matter;  but  it  has  been  the 
occasion  of  endless  trouble;  for  sometimes  these 
half-printed  capitals  simulate  other  letters,  and  a 
key-board  operator  will  almost  always  act  on  first 
impressions,  without  regard  to  sense. 

4.  Another,  less  common,  case  of  careless  ma- 
nipulation has  been  noticed  in  several  manuscripts 
recently  examined.  Wherever  a  hyphen  or  a  dash 
was  called  for,  the  character  intended  to  be  used 


INTRODUCTION  17 

to  indicate  that  a  word  is  to  be  italicized  was 
struck,  instead,  and,  of  course,  appeared  below 
the  line.  In  editing  the  copy,  it  was  necessary 
to  change  every  last  one  of  them,  for  otherwise 
the  key-board  operator  would  naturally  have  been 
misled. 

5.  Many  untrained  typists  pay  no  attention 
whatever  to  the  division  of  words  at  the  end  of  a 
line.  They  will  stop  anywhere  in  a  word,  with 
most  monstrous  and  laughable  results.  Here  again, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  momentary  check  and  hesi- 
tation in  reading,  the  key-board  operator  finds, 
and  is  likely  to  grasp,  an  excuse  for  going  wrong: 
if  she  finds  bough  divided  boug-h  in  the  copy,  why 
should  she  not  divide  it  so  in  the  type,  if  it  happens 
to  come  at  the  end  of  a  line?  This  is  not  a  fanciful 
suggestion,  as  experience  proves,  although  the  ex- 
ample seems  like  a  reductio  ad  absurdum.1  Some 
typists,  who  might  baulk  at  such  divisions,  will 
take  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma,  and  when 
they  reach  the  margin  of  the  paper  with  a  word 
unfinished,  will  disregard  the  remaining  letters  and 
begin  the  new  line  with  the  next  word.  Failure  to 
correct  such  faults  as  these  indicates  either  a  very 
hasty  revision  of  the  manuscript,  or  none  at  all, 
and  may  lead  a  proof-reader  to  expect  other  faults, 

1  See  under  "Spacing  and  Syllabification,"  p.  47  infra,  a  memo- 
randum of  certain  divisions  that  have  actually  been  made  in 
type;  even  worse  ones  are  constantly  found  in  typewritten  MS. 


18  INTRODUCTION 

and  so  to  find  them  even  where  they  do  not  exist. 

6.  A  carbon  copy  of  a  manuscript  is  always  in- 
ferior in  legibility  to  the  original,  and  should  never 
be  sent,  unless  for  some  very  convincing  reason. 
It  is  unfair  to  everybody  connected  with  the 
magazine :  to  the  editor,  who  has  to  read  it  to  de- 
cide upon  its  availability;  to  the  person  who  has 
to  prepare  it  for  the  press;  to  compositors  and 
proof-readers;  and  last,  but  by  no  means  least, 
to  the  author  himself,  because  of  the  danger  of 
mistakes  in  deciphering  the  blurred  and  indistinct 
words.  For  a  like  reason,  paper  that  takes  a  good 
clear  impression,  and  is  thick  enough  to  be  easily 
handled,  should  be  used  for  the  original  copy. 

7.  The  manuscript  should  be  revised  with  care. 
It  often  happens,  even  when  it  bears  indications 
of  having  been  revised,  that  the  corrections  are 
made  so  hastily  and  carelessly  as  to  be  practically 
unreadable.  Special  attention  should  be  given  in 
revising  to  any  points  as  to  which  the  author  is 
desirous  that  the  copy  should  be  followed.   The 
office  always  tries  to  verify  the  spelling  of  proper 
names  and  the  accuracy  of  quotations;  but  the 
necessary  reference  books  may  not  be  at  hand, 
and  the  sources  of  quotations  are  not  always  given 
and  may  very  well  not  be  recognized.  Quotations 
in  foreign  tongues  should  be  revised  with  all  possi- 
ble care.   Quorum  pars  parva  qui,  which  was  actu- 
ally found  in  a  recently  accepted  manuscript, 


INTRODUCTION  19 

would  not  look  well  in  print ;  nor  is  statu  quo,  used 
as  a  nominative,  likely  to  escape  animadversion 
from  some  of  the  "Atlantic's"  friendly  critics. 
Errors  in  such  particulars  are  rather  likely  to  be 
charged  to  the  editor  of  the  magazine,  when  they 
are  really  chargeable  to  the  author.  As  has  been 
said  elsewhere  in  this  book,  one  fails  to  recall  a 
manuscript  in  which  absolute  consistency  has 
been  found,  even  in  respect  to  matters  as  to 
which  the  author  has  been  most  insistent  that 
copy  should  be  followed. 

The  duty  of  paragraphing,  too,  is  much  too  fre- 
quently left  to  the  editor.  As  an  extreme  case,  the 
writer  recalls  a  MS.  of  some  6000  words,  which 
passed  through  his  hands  very  recently,  in  which 
no  paragraphs  at  all  were  indicated.  And  in  this 
connection  he  takes  occasion  to  refer  to  the  un- 
pleasant practice  affected  by  some  authors  of  be- 
ginning every  paragraph  at  the  margin  of  the  type 
script,  so  that  there  is  no  indication  that  a  new 
paragraph  is  intended,  except  when  a  broken  line 
occurs.  This  criticism  applies  to  all  the  manu- 
scripts submitted  by  a  certain  highly  esteemed 
"Atlantic"  contributor,  the  result  being  that,  in 
editing  his  copy,  it  is  necessary  to  mark  every 
paragraph,  at  a  considerable  expenditure  of  time 
and  labor. 

To  sum  up,  it  is  most  essential  that  copy  should 
be  neatly  and  correctly  written  on  good  paper, 


20  INTRODUCTION 

and  that  the  original,  not  a  carbon  copy,  should 
be  presented;  that  it  should  be  revised  and  cor- 
rected carefully  by  the  author,  with  special  refer- 
ence to  paragraphing  and  to  the  verification  of 
quotations  and  references ;  and  that  there  should 
be  space  between  the  lines  for  the  changes  and 
corrections  that  are  quite  certain  to  be  necessary. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  it  must  inevita- 
bly happen  that  there  neither  has  been  nor  will  be 
any  copy  of  the  magazine  printed  in  which  it  will 
not  be  possible  to  find  one  or  more  instances 
of  apparent  disregard  of  the  rules  and  principles 
laid  down  herein  —  to  say  nothing  of  absolute 
errors. 

In  the  first  place,  the  copy  is  often  in  such  con- 
dition that  it  cannot  be  properly  "edited,"  except 
at  the  cost  of  more  time  and  pains  than  can  be 
given  to  it :  the  fault  may  be  either  in  the  physical 
condition  of  the  manuscript,  or  in  inconsistencies 
in  matters  of  punctuation,  use  of  words,  and  so 
forth,  or  in  actual  bad  grammar.  If,  under  these 
circumstances,  errors  or  inconsistencies  get  into 
the  type,  they  may  or  may  not  be  discovered ;  and 
if  they  are  discovered,  the  work  may  then  have 
progressed  so  far  that  it  is  too  late  to  correct  any- 
thing but  genuine  errors,  —  which,  of  course,  have 
to  be  corrected  whenever  they  come  to  light,  if  the 
page  is  not  actually  on  the  press,  —  and  in  that 


INTRODUCTION  21 

case  inconsistencies  are  left,  to  confound  us  later.1 
These  remarks  apply  chiefly  to  the  magazine ;  with 
books,  the  work  is,  of  course,  less  hurried. 

In  the  second  place,  the  author  may  insist  upon 
having  his  own  way  in  some  things ;  and  in  books 
his  wishes  are  naturally  consulted. 

In  the  third  and  last  and  most  important  place, 
proof-readers  are  not  infallible,  no  matter  how 
zealous  and  well-intentioned  they  may  be;  one 
who  is  not  familiar  with  the  business  naturally 
finds  it  hard  to  understand  how  the  same  perfectly 
obvious  error  can  go  undetected  through  proof 
after  proof  and  be  passed  by  reader  after  reader ; 
but  it  has  always  happened,  it  happens  now,  and 
it  always  will  happen. 

It  is  believed  that  there  is  in  the  rules  and  prin- 
ciples set  forth  in  these  pages  nothing  which,  if 
they  are  judiciously  applied,  should  tend  to  pro- 
duce—  what  is,  of  all  things,  to  be  most  sedu- 
lously avoided  —  a  monotonous  sameness  of  style 
in  the  works  of  contributors  and  authors  whose 
individual  styles  may  differ  as  widely  as  the 
subjects  on  which  they  write,  or  as  their  ideas. 

1  A  correspondent  writes  very  lately  that  he  has  been  "deeply 
pained"  to  find  "Encyclopedia  Brittanica,"  spelled  thus  in  the 
Atlantic.  His  pain  was  caused  by  the  extra  t  and  the  missing  n 
in  Britannica;  but  the  responsible  reader  was  much  less  disturbed 
by  this  manifest  typographical  error,  than  by  the  failure  to  spell 
Encyclopedia  with  the  diphthong,  which  is  found  in  the  title  of  the 
work  —  to  say  nothing  of  Atlantic  usage. 


22  INTRODUCTION 

Indeed,  the  Atlantic  office  would  be  quite  unwill- 
ing to  commit  itself  irrevocably  to  the  literal  per- 
formance of  every  precept  in  the  following  pages. 
It  does  try  to  save  authors  from  unwitting  blun- 
ders. It  does  not  try  to  impose  its  preferences, 
in  points  that  are  open  to  question,  impartially 
upon  all  the  authors  with  whose  work  it  deals. 
Yet  it  is  a  fact  that  the  "Atlantic,"  in  the  course 
of  its  sixty-odd  years,  is  popularly  supposed  to 
have  achieved  a  standard  of  literary  excellence; 
and  it  is  the  endeavor  of  all  those  concerned  in 
its  production  —  as  well  as  in  the  production  of 
the  books  that  bear  the  imprint  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  Press  —  to  maintain  that  standard  un- 
impaired. 


PROOF-READERS  AND  PROOF- 
READING 

"  PROOF-READING, "  says  a  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  profession,  "  as  a  distinct  department  in 
the  work  of  a  printing-office,  does  not  date  from 
the  very  earliest  days  of  '  the  art  preservative  of 
all  arts.'  The  first  products  of  the  printing-press 
show  abundant  evidence  of  the  non-existence  of 
anyone  specially  charged  with  the  duty  of  correct- 
ing the  compositors'  mistakes."1 

Before  it  became  the  regular  practice  of  printers 
to  employ  correctors  of  the  press  2  as  an  essential 
part  of  their  establishment,  it  was  a  customary 
thing  for  authors  to  send  the  proofs  of  their  works 
to  their  friends  for  revision;  "and  in  the  univer- 
sities and  colleges  sheets  of  works  passing  through 
the  press  were  frequently  hung  up  in  the  quad- 
rangles for  public  inspection  and  correction." 

With  the  growth  of  printing,  systematic  proof- 
reading began  to  be  recognized  as  a  necessity;  and 
the  demand  was  met  at  first  by  the  adoption  by 
leading  printers  of  the  practice  of  engaging  men 

1  Sir  Theodore  Martin  is  said  to  have  estimated  that  the  typo- 
graphical errors  in  the  First  Folio  Shakespeare  amount  to  20,000, 
or  two  and  a  fourth  per  cent  of  the  whole  number  of  words  in  the 
volume. 

2  "Corrector  of  the  press"  is  the  name  still  used  in  England. 


24  PROOF-READERS 

of  letters  and  scholars  to  read  their  proofs.  Among 
the  many  eminent  men  who  are  supposed  to  have 
accepted  such  employment  are  Goldsmith  and 
Dr.  Johnson;  and  the  elder  D' Israeli  once  wrote 
that  "it  became  the  glory  of  the  learned  to  be  cor- 
rectors of  the  press  to  eminent  printers." 

Tempera  mutantur,  and  no  mistake!  In  these 
days  "the  learned"  are  only  too  prone  to  scamp 
the  reading  of  their  own  proofs;  and  "to-day  in 
every  printing-office  the  proof-reader  is  found  — 
an  unobtrusive  functionary,  known  to  publishers, 
authors,  editors,  and  journalists,  but  for  the  most 
part  unknown  to  the  general  reading  public;  a 
functionary  who  yet  does  useful,  always  valuable, 
and  often  indispensable  work.  The  influence  of 
good  proof-reading  upon  the  character  of  book, 
newspaper,  and  general  printing  is  too  often  un- 
derrated. The  celebrated  old  printing-offices  and 
the  foremost  of  the  modern  ones  owe  their  repu- 
tation for  good  workmanship  largely  to  the  excel- 
lence and  thoroughness  of  the  work  done  in  their 
reading-rooms,  for  no  perfection  of  paper,  ink, 
machining,  or  binding  can  atone  for  bad  or  slip- 
shod typography."1 

The  business  of  proof-reading  was  from  the  out- 
set, and  for  many  years,  followed  exclusively  by 
men.  Of  late  years,  however,  in  this  as  in  many 
other  callings,  the  steadily  increasing  encroach- 

1  Encyclopaedia  Britannica. 


AND  PROOF-READING  25 

ment  of  the  female  persuasion  has  resulted,  in  the 
United  States,  in  pushing  the  sterner  sex  out  to 
a  large  extent,  until  now  the  male  proof-reader  — 
except  in  newspaper  offices  —  is  almost  as  extinct 
as  the  dodo.  In  England,  a  different  condition  ob- 
tains, and  women  readers  are  rarely  met  with.1 

There  is  no  question  that  it  is  a  very  great  ad- 
vantage to  a  reader  to  have  had  experience  as  a 
compositor,  because  so  large  a  part  of  the  work  is 
concerned  with  detecting  typographical  errors. 
"To  be  a  useful  reader,"  wrote  the  late  T.  L.  De 
Vinne,  founder  of  the  famous  De  Vinne  Press, 
' '  one  should  know  types  by  their  names  and  under- 
stand the  technical  terms  and  the  methods  of  a 
printing  house.  There  is  also  much  to  be  learned 
in  the  routine  of  proof-reading,  which  is  acquired 
most  thoroughly  by  the  young  compositor  or 
copy-holder.  There  are  a  few  excellent  readers 
who  have  not  been  printers  or  copy-holders,  but 
the  readers  of  most  utility  are  those  who  have 
held  copy  or  set  type  from  their  youth." 

The  introduction  of  the  type-setting  machine, 
which  has  now  practically  put  the  old-time  hand- 
compositor  out  of  business,  has  naturally  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  rapid  decrease  in  the  supply  of  com- 
positor-candidates for  the  position  of  proof-reader. 
The  young  women  who  operate  the  Monotype 

1  It  may  be  that  this,  like  so  many  other  things,  has  been 
changed  by  the  World  War. 


26  PROOF-READERS 

key-boards  soon  learn  that  speed  is  the  first  requi- 
site, and  seldom  stop  to  correct  (even  if  they  dis- 
cover them)  the  frequent  errors  that  they  make  by 
striking  the  wrong  key.  Nor  do  they  pause  — 
perhaps  they  should  not  —  to  consider  whether 
the  copy,  as  they  read  it,  makes  sense  or  nonsense. 
Consequently,  they  seldom  acquire  from  experi- 
ence even  a  modicum  of  the  expert  knowledge 
that  might  fit  them  to  read  proof,  as  experience 
with  the  more  leisurely  process  of  hand-composi- 
tion was  supposed  to  do. 

The  " copy-holder"  is  the  person  who  reads  the 
copy  aloud  while  the  "first  reader"  follows  on  the 
galley  proof;1  it  is,  of  course,  essential  that  she 
shall  be  familiar  with  the  whole  terminology  of 
the  trade,  —  the  technical  printer's  names  for  all 
punctuation  marks,  and  so  forth,  —  and,  most 
of  all,  that  she  shall  be  careful  and  accurate  in 
her  reading.2  It  is  the  almost  invariable  rule  that 

1  The  proof  that  is  "pulled"  from  the  type  as  it  is  first  set,  and 
before  it  is  made  up  into  pages. 

2  "To  ensure  accuracy,"  says  Mr.  De  Vinne,  "the  copy-holder 
is  required  to  call  out  every  paragraph,  mark  of  punctuation,  and 
italicized  word,  which  he  [she]  does  in  a  sing-song  voice,  clipping 
the  names  of  the  points  in  the  copy."  For  example,  a  person  listen- 
ing while  a  copy-holder  read  the  sentence  to  which  this  note  is 
appended,  would  hear  this:  "The  open  quote  copy  hyph.  holder 
close  is  the  person  who  reads  the  copy  aloud  while  the  open  quote 
first  reader  close  follows  on  the  galley  proof  sem.  sup.  one  it  is 
com.  of  course  com.  essential  that  she  shall  be  familiar  with  the 
whole  terminology  of  the  trade  com.  dash  the  technical  printer 
pos.  s  names"  —  and  so  forth. 


AND  PROOF-READING  27 

proof-readers  shall  pass  through  this  stage  of  train- 
ing, which  is  of  the  utmost  value. 

The  first  reader's  duty  is  to  see  that  the  type 
"follows  copy,"  as  it  is  read  to  her  (or  him)  by  the 
copy-holder.  Her  task  in  this  respect  has  been 
made  much  heavier  than  it  was  in  the  old  days  of 
hand-composition,  because  the  errors  made  by  the 
key-board  operator,  in  her  subordination  of  care 
and  intelligence  to  speed,  are  vastly  more  numer- 
ous. For,  despite  the  malevolent  ingenuity  of  the 
old-time  "comp."  in  making  blunders  and  in  try- 
ing to  avoid  their  consequences  when  made,  the 
task  that  he  set  the  reader  was  a  comparatively 
simple  one,  especially  if  her  (or  his)  service  had 
been  long  enough  to  make  her  familiar  with  his 
"tricks." 

Among  the  compositors  who  are  employed  in 
correcting  in  the  type  the  manifold  errors  of  the 
type-setting  machine,  there  are  those  who  seem 
inclined  to  think  that  anything  that  happens  to 
be  strange  to  them  must  be  wrong,  and  to  "cor- 
rect" it  on  their  own  responsibility.  The  writer 
has  recently  been  told  of  one  such  person  who, 
without  comment,  changed  "the  gnu  stood  with 
its  feet  wide  apart,"  to  ' '  the  gun  stood, ' '  etc. ;  and 
only  careful  revision  detected  the  change  at  the 
eleventh  hour.  In  another  instance,  the  fact  that 
a  certain  English  family  chooses  to  spell  its  name 
ffrench  was  so  offensive  to  those  who  had  to  do 


28  PROOF-READERS 

with  setting  it,  that  only  by  almost  superhuman 
effort  did  the  name  finally  get  printed  properly, 
without  a  capital. 

The  first  reader's  duties  are  properly  confined  to 
making  the  type  agree  with  the  copy.1  She  may 
correct  errors  as  to  which  there  is  no  possible  ques- 
tion; but  it  is  safer  in  practically  every  case  to 
content  herself  with  calling  the  author's  attention 
to  what  seems  to  be  an  error.  An  amusing  instance 
of  a  reader's  over-confidence  in  her  own  judgment 
in  this  regard  came  recently  under  the  writer's  eye. 
Mary  Fitton,  who  lived  in  the  early  part  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  —  she  has  been  sometimes, 
but  with  little  probability,  identified  with  the 
"dark  lady"  of  Shakespeare's  sonnets,  —  was  re- 
ferred to  in  a  certain  article  as  "Mary  Fitton,  a 
shade  three  hundred  years  old."  The  reader, 
thinking  that  she  had  caught  the  author  in  a  slip, 
corrected  the  phrase,  on  her  own  authority  and 
without  comment,  to  what  she  thought  it  ought  to 
be  —  "Mary  Fitton,  a  shade  [that  is  to  say,  "a 
little"]  over  three  hundred  years  old."  And  even 
more  recently,  the  word  "peremptorily"  was  set 
"preemptorily"  and  somebody,  in  obedience  to  an 

1  This  statement  is  accurate  with  regard  to  at  least  one  large 
printing-office,  and  all  Atlantic  work.  But  the  writer  is  informed 
that,  in  most  offices,  the  first  reading  is  considered  the  more  im- 
portant, the  style  being  set  and  all  critical  work  done  on  the  galley 
proof,  and  the  final  reader's  duties  being  confined  to  typographical 
and  mechanical  matters  only. 


AND   PROOF-READING  29 

office  rule  laid  down  elsewhere  in  this  book,  in- 
stead of  correcting  the  spelling,  made  the  impossi- 
ble word  conform  to  Atlantic  style,  by  putting  a 
diaeresis  over  the  second  e  —  preemptorily. 

Another  instance  may  be  cited,  of  a  different 
sort,  in  which  both  copy-holder  and  first  reader 
failed  to  detect  the  divagation  of  a  key-board 
operator.  A  valued  contributor  to  the  "Atlantic  " 
sent  in  a  paper  written  in  his  own  hand,  —  an 
execrable  hand,  it  must  be  confessed,  —  which, 
when  it  reached  the  present  writer  in  galley  proof, 
contained  the  following  remarkable  statement: 
"  If  in  a  certain  city  a  thousand  people  die  of  ty- 
phoid fever  every  year,  that  is  a  digestible  food  " ! 
Inspection  of  the  copy  showed  that,  while  the 
words  in  question  did  look  like  "digestible  food," 
they  actually  were  written  for  "deplorable  fact." 
But  neither  copy-holder  nor  reader  had,  appar- 
ently, noticed  the  lack  of  sense  —  perhaps  be- 
cause they  were  attempting  to  break  the  speed 
record;  for  under  present  conditions,  readers,  as 
well  as  key-boarders,  sometimes  have  to  work 
with  one  eye  on  the  calendar  and  the  other  on 
the  clock.  It  is  lamentably  true  that  this  insist- 
ence upon  working  on  time  has  much  to  do  with 
the  inadequate  training  that  readers  receive  in 
the  present  day. 

When  the  galley  proofs  have  been  returned  by 
the  author  with  his  corrections,  and  those  correc- 


30  PROOF-READERS 

tions  have  been  duly  made,  the  type  is  cut  up  into 
pages  of  the  requisite  length,  with  head-lines  and 
page  numbers,  —  in  printers'  parlance,  "made 
up,"  —  another  proof  is  pulled  and,  when  it  has 
been  revised,  to  see  that  all  corrections  marked  on 
the  galleys  have  been  properly  made,  the  pages 
are  "put  in  chase "  or  " locked  up "  immovably  in 
heavy  iron  frames  ("chases").  At  this  stage 
another  proof  is  taken  and  handed  to  another 
reader,  whose  duty  it  is  to  give  it  a  final  critical 
reading,  before  the  type  is  sent  to  the  foundry, 
where  it  is  electro  typed,  and  the  plates  are  made 
from  which  the  magazine  or  book  is  to  be  printed. 

The  "  final  reading"  stage  is  that  in  which  those 
qualities  of  the  proof-reader  with  which  authors 
and  editors  have  most  to  do  come  chiefly  into 
play;  and  it  is  the  "final  reader"  who  is  the  sub- 
ject of  what  follows. 

"Commend  me  to  the  whole  tribe  of  proof- 
readers for  readiness  to  teach  Peary  where  the 
pole  is,  or  the  Lord  Chancellor  who  are  in  the 
Upper  House."  This  outburst  from  an  eminent 
scholar  who  was,  in  his  lifetime,  a  not  infrequent 
contributor  to  the  "Atlantic,"  was  called  forth  by 
a  well-meant  query  on  a  proof-sheet  as  to  a  state- 
ment made  by  him  in  a  certain  article.  The 
sarcasm  was,  perhaps,  justified  in  that  case,  es- 
pecially as  the  offense  was  aggravated  by  referring 
the  author  to  "  Whitaker's  Almanac"!  but  it  is 


AND  PROOF-READING  31 

typical  of  the  attitude  of  a  good  many  authors, 
who  fail  to  appreciate  the  "useful,  always  valu- 
able, and  often  indispensable  work"  done  by  that 
"obscure  functionary,"  the  proof-reader. 

"A  broader  knowledge  of  the  frequency  of 
faults  in  writing,"  says  Mr.  De  Vinne,  "should 
lead  to  a  better  appreciation  of  the  services  of  the 
proof-reader;  but  this  knowledge  is  rarely  ac- 
quired out  of  a  printing-house.  The  undisciplined 
writer  who  believes  that  he  is  careful  and  exact 
often  resents  the  suggestion  that  he  can  be  in- 
debted to  the  proof-reader  for  help  of  any  kind. 
The  too-rapid  and  over-confident  writer,  who  may 
have  been  provoked  by  too  many  queries  from  the 
reader  (for  there  are  amateurs  who  can  be  as 
irritating  as  mosquitoes),  may  peremptorily  order 
that  his  copy  be  followed  in  every  particular.  Not 
a  comma  or  a  capital  must  be  changed.  Writers 
like  these  put  the  reader  in  an  unpleasant  posi- 
tion. To  query  a  supposed  error  is  an  offense  to 
the  writer ;  to  pass  an  indefensible  error  is  to  offend 
the  employer  and  incur  discredit  as  a  competent 
reader.  Yet  the  positive  order  to  follow  copy  may 
lead  to  unhappy  results  when  the  author  cannot 
see  the  proof  of  his  writing." 

Even  the  poet  Cowper,  supposed  to  have  been 
the  soul  of  amiability,  accused  a  reader  who  tried 
to  "improve"  his  poems  of  "rash  and  gratui- 
tous emendation,"  and  of  being  "  a  presumptuous 


32  PROOF-READERS 

intermeddler."  And  the  gentle  Emerson  once 
confided  to  his  Journal  the  unwontedly  savage 
remark  that  proof-readers  were  never  willing  to 
admit  that  an  author  knew  anything  about  his  sub- 
ject  • —  or  words  to  that  effect.  One  very  famous 
novelist,  whose  style  has  certain  peculiarities,  to 
say  the  least,  discouraged  proof-readers  from  call- 
ing attention  to  anything  —  this  within  the  writ- 
er's own  experience  —  by  a  constantly  reiterated 
direction  to  "follow  copy " ;  and  another,  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  editor  of  the  "Atlantic"  apropos  of  a 
reader's  query  on  a  proof,  expressed  a  pious  wish 
that  American  proof-readers  would  follow  the 
example  of  their  British  brethren,  and  confine 
themselves  to  the  correction  of  typographical 
errors,  and  not  burden  themselves  with  the  self- 
imposed  task  of  criticizing  the  text  before  them. 

If  writers  in  general  were  more  given  to  a  reali- 
zation of  the  fact  that  errors  —  not  in  spelling  and 
grammar  and  punctuation  alone  —  will  frequently 
find  a  way  into  their  copy,  however  inerrant  they 
themselves  may  be ;  that  typists  are  occasionally 
careless;  that  the  typewritten  copy  is  not  invari- 
ably revised  with  care ;  and  that  even  the  fact  that 
one  has  become  an  author  does  not  of  itself  make 
one's  handwriting  legible  (if,  indeed,  it  has  not 
a  contrary  effect)  —  if  they  were  more  prone  to 
realize  these  things,  they  would  be  readier  to  ad- 
mit that  the  value  of  the  service  of  a  painstaking 


AND  PROOF-READING  33 

proof-reader  is  not  measured  altogether  by  the 
typographical  errors  that  he  detects.  And  if  they 
should  then  proceed  to  search  their  hearts  as  to 
their  fashion  of  treating  readers'  queries,  they 
would  perhaps  be  moved  to  look  more  leniently 
on  the  manner  of  querying,  which  may  sometimes 
seem  over-bumptious. 

One  can  scarcely  deny  that  many  proof-readers 
are  stupid,  many  pigheaded,  and  a  very  large  num- 
ber wise  in  their  own  conceit,  and  "sot"  in  their 
ideas.  "There  are  amateur  readers,"  says  Mr. 
De  Vinne,  "who  unduly  magnify  their  office,  and 
seize  every  occasion  to  show  the  author  their  crit- 
ical knowledge  of  rhetoric,  etymology,  and  punc- 
tuation. .  .  .  The  irritability  of  an  author  may 
be  justly  provoked  by  the  meddling  queries  of  a 
captious  reader,  who  suggests  corrections  where 
they  are  not  needed."  But  it  can  be  most  emphat- 
ically denied  that,  as  a  class,  they  are  consumed 
by  an  overpowering  itch  to  prove  their  superior 
knowledge.  The  attitude  of  the  average  reader 
would  be  fairly  expressed  by  some  such  formula  as 
this:  These  queries  addressed  to  the  author  are 
inspired  by  no  purpose  to  be  presuming  or  imper- 
tinent, or  to  suggest  superior  knowledge  on  the 
reader's  part;  but  they  are  made  solely  because  of 
the  possibility  that  the  author  has  overlooked 
what  may  be  an  error,  or  that  the  suggestions  may 
not  have  occurred  to  him,  but,  on  being  brought 


34  PROOF-READERS 

to  his  attention,  may  commend  themselves  to  his 
judgment. 

Authors  are  often  annoyed  by  the  habit  that 
many  readers  have  of  underscoring  a  word  or 
words  in  the  text  and  placing  a  question  mark  in 
the  margin,  with  no  indication  of  its  significance. 
A  reader  should  never  "query"  anything  with- 
out an  intelligible  explanation  of  the  reason  for 
doing  so. 

Queries  may  be  discharged  at  almost  every 
phase  of  authorship,  —  if  that  is  a  legitimate  ex- 
pression, —  short  of  the  religious,  political,  or  lit- 
erary views  of  the  author.  The  reader  may  call 
attention  to  peculiarities  of  spelling  or  punctua- 
tion or  capitalization,  to  which  the  author  seems 
to  be  addicted;  to  what  she  (or  he)  believes  to 
be  a  misstatement  of  fact,  a  misquotation,  or  a 
mistake  in  a  name  or  a  date;  or  may  suggest 
changes  in  the  arrangement  or  choice  of  words.  In 
the  writer's  experience  of  nearly  twenty  years  he 
has  seen  the  most  incredible  errors  get  into  type 
because  they  were  in  the  copy.  Sometimes,  if  the 
reader  is  sure  of  his  facts,  he  will  correct  the  error, 
and  the  author  never  knows  that  he  made  it ;  but 
if  there  is  a  bare  possibility  that  it  may  be  no 
error,  then  the  query  should  be  written  on  the 
proof,  and  the  author  should  be  asked  to  settle  it. 
In  very  many  cases  within  the  writer's  knowledge, 
the  detection  of  the  error  was  acknowledged  with 


AND   PROOF-READING  35 

an  expression  of  gratitude ;  and  in  many  others  — 
it  was  not. 

Many  authors  seem  to  feel  instinctively  that 
proof-readers  generally  mean  to  be  helpful  and 
not  presumptuous.  One  of  the  most  popular  of 
professors  and  lecturers  once  said  that  his  experi- 
ence as  an  editor  had  taught  him  how  great  was 
the  indebtedness  to  "the  fellows  in  velveteen 
jackets,  with  short  briar-wood  pipes  in  their 
mouths,"  who  read  the  proofs.  The  fellow  in  a 
velveteen  jacket  is  generally  a  spectacled  lady  in 
bombazine,  —  if  there  is  any  such  material,  — 
but  the  indebtedness  is  there,  none  the  less. 

Charles  Dickens  once  said :  "  I  know  from  some 
slight  practical  experience  what  the  duties  of  cor- 
rectors of  the  press  are,  and  how  these  duties  are 
usually  discharged.  And  I  can  testify  .  .  .  that 
they  are  not  mechanical  —  that  they  are  not 
mere  matters  of  manipulation  and  routine;  but 
that  they  require  from  those  who  perform  them 
much  natural  intelligence,  much  superadded  cul- 
tivation ,  considerable  readiness  of  reference,  quick- 
ness of  resource,  an  excellent  memory,  and  a  clear 
understanding.  And  I  must  gratefully  acknow- 
ledge that  I  have  never  gone  through  the  sheets 
of  any  book  I  have  written  without  having  had 
presented  to  me  by  the  corrector  of  the  press 
something  I  had  overlooked  —  some  slight  in- 
consistency into  which  I  had  fallen  —  some  little 


36  PROOF-READERS 

mistake  I  had  made  —  in  short,  without  having 
set  down  in  black  and  white  some  unquestionable 
indication  that  I  had  been  closely  followed  in  my 
work  by  a  patient  and  trained  mind,  and  not 
merely  by  a  skilful  eye."  And  Robert  Browning 
was  equally  emphatic,  if  less  diffuse:  "  I  have  had 
every  opportunity  of  becoming  acquainted  with, 
and  gratefully  acknowledging,  the  extreme  service 
rendered  to  me ;  and  if  mine  be  no  exceptional  case 
the  qualifications  of  readers  and  correctors  are 
important  indeed." 

It  seems  clear  from  Dickens' s  testimony  that  in 
his  time  the  British  corrector  was  not  the  mere 
machine  which  he  was  represented  to  be  by  the 
author  who  wished  that  his  American  confreres 
would  copy  him.  Sir  Walter  Besant  and  the 
editors  of  the  "Century  Dictionary"  and  of  the 
"Dictionary  of  National  Biography"  have  also 
cheerfully  and  publicly  testified  to  the  helpfulness 
of  the  proof-reader. 

It  is  said  above  that  queries  should  stop  short 
of  suggestions  concerning  the  religious,  political, 
or  literary  views  of  the  author.  Indeed,  it  is  al- 
most fatal  to  the  usefulness  of  a  reader  that  she 
should  stop  to  consider  whether  or  not  such  views 
accord  with  her  own.  To  forbid  a  reader  to  enter- 
tain any  views  would  be  idle,  of  course;  but  she 
must  be  able  to  forget  them  so  far  as  not  to  allow 
herself  to  be  distracted  from  her  task.  A  case 


AND   PROOF-READING  37 

comes  to  mind,  of  a  reader  of  very  pronounced  re- 
ligious views  who  was  given,  to  read,  a  volume  of 
sermons  by  a  minister  of  a  denomination  very  far 
removed  from  that  to  which  the  reader  belonged. 
The  consequence  was  that  the  proofs  were  laden 
with  controversial  arguments  upon  various  points 
of  doctrine,  while  typographical  errors  went  un- 
heeded. It  was  the  first  book  that  had  been  given 
to  that  reader,  and,  after  the  author's  rather 
pointed  comments  had  been  received,  it  was  de- 
cided that  it  should  be  the  last.  This  was  an 
extreme  —  indeed ,  a  unique  —  case ;  but  the  writer 
has  had  personal  knowledge  of  many  instances  of 
less  flagrant  attempts  to  "  reason  "  with  an  author, 
which  have  resulted  in  a  mauvais  quart  d'heure  for 
the  reader. 

A  great  part  of  what  has  been  said  thus  far 
bears  more  relation  to  the  proofs  of  books,  which 
are  printed  under  the  author's  direct  supervision, 
than  to  those  of  the  "Atlantic,"  which,  in  many 
cases,  are  never  seen  by  the  author.  A  few  words 
about  these  latter  may  not,  then,  be  out  of  place. 

The  work  on  the  magazine  is  done  at  the  press 
by  a  force  specially  assigned  to  it.  The  schedule 
of  articles  for  the  month  having  been  prepared  by 
the  editor,  the  copy  is  "edited"  by  his  assistant, 
and  is  then  sent  to  the  press,  where  it  is  gone  over 
again  by  the  reader  who  has  the  magazine  in  her 
charge  there.  When  an  article  has  been  put  in 


3*  PROOF-READERS 

type,  the  galley  proofs  are  read  by  a  first  reader 
and  sent  to  the  editorial  office,  where  they  are 
read  a  second  time.  After  this  second  reading, 
they  are  either  sent  to  the  author  or  returned  to 
the  press.1 

At  a  certain  fixed  date  in  each  month,  the 
"make-up"  of  the  magazine  begins;  that  is  to 
say,  the  galleys  are  cut  into  columns  of  the  proper 
length,  the  pages  are  made  up,  and  proofs  are 
taken  of  the  pages.  These  proofs  are  revised  at 
the  press  by  the  final  reader  and  are  then  sent  to 
the  office,  with  all  long  or  short  columns  marked, 
and  bearing  any  queries  that  the  reader  thinks  it 
well  to  make.  They  are  then  read  by  the  editor's 
assistant,  and  during  this  reading  all  matters  of 
the  adjustment  of  columns  and  pages,  the  "fit- 
ting in"  of  articles,  and  the  rest,  are  attended 
to  —  subject  always  to  a  change  in  the  schedule 
if  ordered  by  the  editor. 

We  intend  that  at  least  every  second  article 
shall  begin  a  new  page,  and  are  generally  able  to 
carry  out  that  purpose.  But  as  an  author  cannot 

1  When  proofs  are  sent  to  the  author,  they  bear  only  such 
queries  as  relate  to  the  substance  of  the  article,  such  matters  as 
punctuation,  spelling,  and  the  like  being  made  to  conform  to  the 
regular  Atlantic  style,  except  in  very  rare  cases.  If,  as  frequently 
happens,  the  proofs  are  not  returned  before  the  article  is  reached  in 
the  "make-up,"  such  corrections  as  the  author  may  desire  have  to 
be  made  in  the  page;  and  sometimes  the  make-up  has  progressed 
so  far  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  extensive  changes  without  dis- 
proportionate trouble  and  labor,  and  —  what  is  more  important 
—  loss  of  valuable  time. 


AND  PROOF-READING  39 

be  expected  to  measure  his  article  beforehand  so 
that  it  shall  fill,  say,  seven  pages  of  the  magazine 
if  it  runs  over  six,  it  sometimes  happens  that  there 
has  to  be  some  compression  done,  to  avoid  begin- 
ning several  successive  articles  in  the  middle  of 
a  page.  All  such  matters  are,  as  has  been  said, 
adjusted  in  the  reading  of  the  first  page  proofs. 
These  proofs  are  then  returned  to  the  press,  and 
after  the  changes  and  corrections  have  been  made, 
the  pages  are  "locked  up"  immovably  in  the 
"chases"  in  which  they  are  to  be  sent  to  the  elec- 
trotyping  foundry.  Another  proof  is  then  taken, 
and  is  read  by  the  final  reader  before  being  sent 
to  the  office,  where  it,  too,  is  read  a  second  time 
for  final  corrections  and  changes.  These  proofs  be- 
ing returned,  and  the  necessary  corrections  made, 
still  another  proof  is  taken,  and  the  pages  are  then 
sent  to  the  foundry.  This  last-named  proof  is 
sent  to  the  office  without  being  read,  and  is  there 
glanced  over  merely,  for  possible  imperfections. 

After  the  pages  have  been  electrotyped  and  the 
plates  have  been  finished,  a  proof  is  taken  from 
the  plates,  and  that  proof  is  read  at  the  press  be- 
fore the  actual  printing  begins.  This  ends  the 
reading  of  proofs.  As  will  be  seen  there  have  been 
in  all  six  readings,  and  yet  —  it  is  needless  to 
remind  the  critical  readers  of  the  magazine — • 
errors  find  their  way  in;  often  they  start  in  the 
type-setting  machine  and  go  undetected  through 


40  PROOF-READERS 

every  reading.  And  as  to  consistency  in  the  mat- 
ters of  which  this  book  treats  —  well,  perfect  con- 
sistency has  never  been  attained,  and  probably 
never  will  be.  But  enough  has  been  said  to  show 
that  an  effort  is  made  to  that  end.  And  so  far  as 
that  effort  is  successful,  credit  is  due  in  great  meas- 
ure to  the  reader  at  the  Rumford  Press  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  "Atlantic,"  and  of  those  Atlantic 
books  that  are  printed  there,  and  who  has,  with 
keen  intelligence  and  with  unfailing  zeal  and  good- 
will, shared  the  present  writer's  labors  lo,  these 
many  years. 


THESE  two  subjects  are  almost  necessarily  con- 
sidered together,  when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  "At- 
lantic" itself,  and  in  Atlantic  books  generally, 
evenness  of  spacing,  bearing  upon  the  appearance 
of  the  page,  is  regarded  as  an  important  element 
in  the  make-up.  As  the  width  of  the  page  de- 
creases, the  difficulty  of  securing  even  spacing  in- 
creases; it  reaches  its  height  when,  as  in  the 
magazine,  the  text  is  set  in  two  narrow  columns; 
and  the  chief  remedy —  aside  from  more  or  less 
freedom  in  the  interchangeable  use  of  commas, 
dashes,  and  parentheses  to  inclose  parenthetical 
or  semi-parenthetical  clauses  —  lies  in  practis- 
ing some  eclecticism  in  the  division  of  words,  or 
syllabification. 

The  "authorities"  are  so  far  apart  in  attempt- 
ing to  prescribe  rules  to  govern  this  last  subject, 
and  the  so-called  rules  are,  in  every  case,  subject 
to  so  many  exceptions  and  qualifications,  that  it 
seems  hardly  worth  while,  although  the  temptation 
is  strong,  to  refer  to  them  at  any  considerable 
length.  A  specimen  or  two  must  suffice. 

A  favorite  rule  is  that  words  should  be  divided 
on  "a  vowel,  wherever  possible";  and  to  this  a 
certain  otherwise  useful  handbook  appends  the 


42  SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION 

further  question- begging  proviso,  "and  when  it 
is  a  correct  division"! 

In  the  "Manual  of  Style"  of  the  University 
of  Chicago  Press  we  are  told  in  one  section  to 
"divide  on  a  vowel  wherever  practicable,"  and  in 
another  section  to  divide  "according  to  pronun- 
ciation (the  American  system),  not  according  to 
derivation  (the  English  system)."  And  these  are 
the  examples  given  under  the  first :  "sepa-rate,  not 
sep-arate;  particu-lar,  not  partic-ular;  criti-cism, 
not  crit-icism" ;  in  each  of  these  three  cases  the 
tabooed  division  would  be  quite  proper  according 
to  the  second  rule  —  divide  according  to  pronun- 
ciation. And  now  note  the  examples  given  under 
the  second  rule:  "democ-racy,  not  demo-cracy; 
aurif-erous,  not  auri-ferous;  antip-odes,  not  anti- 
podes" —  in  each  of  which  the  propriety  of  divid- 
ing on  the  vowel  is  forgotten.  Taking  the  examples 
by  themselves,  we  might  deduce  this  rule :  divide 
on  a  vowel  when  possible,  unless  by  so  doing  you 
might  chance  to  divide  according  to  the  deriva- 
tion. But  confusion  is  made  worse  confounded  by 
still  another  direction:  "As  far  as  is  compatible 
with  pronunciation  and  good  spacing,  however, 
divide  compounds  on  etymological  lines,  or  accord- 
ing to  derivation  and  meaning" I 

In  the  same  "Manual"  a  fine  distinction  is 
drawn,  which  is  believed  to  be  unique  in  that  it 
makes  the  division  of  a  certain  class  of  derivatives 


SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION  43 

depend  upon  the  accentuation  of  the  "parent- 
word."  "In  derivatives  from  words  ending  in  /, 
the  t  in  divisions  should  be  carried  into  the  next 
line  with  the  suffix  if  the  accent  has  been  shifted ; 
if  the  derivative  has  retained  the  accent  of  the 
parent  word,  the  t  should  be  left  in  the  first  line: 
objec-tive  (from  ob'ject) ;  defect-ive  (from  defect')." 
Imagine  a  compositor  stopping  to  reflect  on  such 
a  distinction  as  this!  And  what  about  objection 
and  defection,  which  also  are  derivatives  from  the 
same  "parent-words":  must  we  divide  objec-tion 
and  defect-ion? 

The  following  helpful  paragraph  is  taken  from 
"A  Practical  Guide  for  Authors,"  by  W.  S. 
Booth :  — 

"In  present  participles  carry  over  the  ing: 
divid-ing,  mak-ing,  fore-ing,  charg-ing,  (but  twin- 
kling, chuc-kling,  dan-cing,  etc.)." 

Why  the  distinction  between  fore-ing  and  dan- 
cing; and  what  does  the  "etc."  include?  Why  not 
twink-ling  and  chuck-ling,  if  these  words  must  be 
divided? 

Another  equally  illuminating  direction  from  the 
same  work  is  this :  — 

"Divide  in  all  cases  espe-cial,  inhabit-ant, 
pecul-iar,  pro-cess,  know-ledge,  atmos-phere,  and 
hemi- sphere." 

The  significance  of  "in  all  cases"  is  far  from 
clear;  and  the  distinction  between  the  last  two 


44  SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION 

divisions  is  particularly  subtle ;  who  can  say  that 
the  5  is  pronounced  with  the  second  syllable  in  the 
one  case  and  not  in  the  other? 

All  this  goes  to  show  that  the  best-meant  at- 
tempts to  lay  down  strict  rules  for  the  division 
of  words  that  can  be,  without  apparent  offense, 
divided  in  more  than  one  way  inevitably  end  in 
contradictions  inter  se,  when  they  are  not  so  vague 
as  to  be  useless;  and,  furthermore,  that  some 
authority  can  be  quoted  for  almost  any  division 
that  is  not  manifestly  absurd. 

According  to  Mr.  Horace  Hart,  in  the  division 
of  English  words,  "The  principle  is  that  the  part 
of  the  word  left  at  the  end  of  a  line  should  suggest 
the  part  commencing  on  the  next  line.  Thus  the 
word  'happiness'  should  be  divided  happi-ness, 
not  hap-piness."1  The  difficulty  with  this  other- 
wise admirable  principle  is  that  it  will  often  be 
impossible  to  find  room  on  a  line  for  enough  of  a 
fairly  long  word  to  answer  the  purpose.  It  is  not 
necessary  even  to  resort  to  such  an  extreme  exam- 
ple as  that  which  Mr.  Hart  himself  uses  to  point 
out  the  limits  of  usefulness  of  his  principle.  "I 
was  once  asked,"  he  says,  "  how  I  would  carry  out 
the  rule  ...  in  such  a  case  as  '  disproportion- 
ableness,'  which,  according  to  Sir  James  Murray, 
is  one  of  the  longest  words  in  the  English  lan- 
guage; or  'incircumscriptibleness,'  used  by  one 

1  Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers,  etc.,  p.  54. 


SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION  45 

Byfield,  a  divine,  in  1615;  ...  or  again,  'anti- 
disestablishmentarians,'  quoted  in  the  biography 
of  Archbishop  Benson." 

Other  things  being  equal,  the  pronunciation 
system  is  probably  the  best  (with  such  regard  as 
can  conveniently  be  paid  to  Mr.  Hart's  principle 
that  the  part  of  the  word  left  in  the  first  line 
should  suggest  what  is  coming) ;  but  here  again 
we  are  confronted  by  the  question:  What  is  the 
proper  pronunciation?  And  again,  where  two  con- 
sonants come  together,  as  in  importance,  for  exam- 
ple, can  we  say  dogmatically  that  they  are  divided 
in  pronunciation,  and  that  the  t  necessarily  goes 
with  the  last  syllable? 

The  purpose  of  this  tedious  discussion  is  to  ex- 
plain the  latitude  allowed  in  the  "Atlantic,"  and 
to  a  lesser  degree  in  Atlantic  books,  in  the  matter 
of  division  of  words,  in  the  interest  of  even  spa- 
cing. "Questions  of  division  involve  questions  of 
white  space.  Ideal  division  may  be  less  important 
than  good  spacing." x 

There  are  a  few  hard-and-fast  rules,  which  may 
not  be  waived  even  in  the  magazine. 

1.  One-letter  divisions  are  never  permissible. 
Dissyllabic  words,  like  enough,  among,  and  others, 
which  could  not  conceivably  be  divided  except 
after  the  first  letter,  must  be  kept  together. 

2.  Words  consisting  strictly  of  one  syllable  can- 

1  Summey,  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  174. 


46  SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION 

not  be  divided:  through,  whilst,  and,  of  course, 
innumerable  others.  The  word  "strictly"  is  in- 
tended to  exclude  from  the  rule  certain  words, 
like  the  past  tense  or  past  participle  of  some  verbs, 
which,  although  they  are  now  pronounced  as  one 
syllable,  except  occasionally  in  verse,  actually 
contain  two  syllables  and  were  originally  so  pro- 
nounced.1 For  example:  it  is  permissible — though 
undesirable,  and  to  be  avoided  if  possible  —  to 
divide  approv-ed,  advanc-ed,  as  an  alternative  to 
very  bad  spacing. 

3.  No  more  than  three  hyphens  may  be  printed 
at  the  ends  of  successive  lines.   If  this  cannot  be 
avoided  without  bad  spacing,  it  must  be  left  for 
the  reader  or  editor  to  adjust. 

4.  When  the  past  tense  or  present  participle  of 
a  verb  is  formed  by  doubling  the  final  consonant, 
the  added  letter  must  always  be  turned  over  with 
ed  or  ing:  control-ling,  not  controll-ing.  When  the 
verb  itself  ends  with  a  double  consonant,  it  is 
better  to  turn  over  only  the  ending ;  but  the  rule 
is  not  absolute,  except  in  the  case  of  short  verbs 
of  one  syllable:  add-ed,  not  ad-ded;  pass-ing,  not 
pas-sing. 

5.  The  terminations  cial,  sial,  tial,  don,  sion, 
tion,  cious,  must  be  treated  always  by  compositors 

1  This  is  shown,  of  course,  by  the  use  in  older  books,  and  some- 
times, even  now,  in  poetry,  of  the  apostrophe  (prov'd)  when  the 
second  syllable  was  to  be  elided.  On  the  other  hand,  we  now  print 
proved,  when  that  syllable  is  to  be  pronounced. 


SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION  47 

as  indivisible;  the  rare  occasions  when  the  first 
letter  may  be  left  behind  should  be  passed  upon 
by  the  proof-reader. 

6.  If  the  turning-over  of  a  part  of  the  last  word 
of  a  paragraph  is  unavoidable,  it  must  not  contain 
less  than  four  letters. 

7.  There  are  many  properly  called  impossible 
divisions,  aside  from  those  included  under  para- 
graph 2  above,  of  which  it  is  impracticable  to 
make  any  sort  of  list.    The  question  whether  a 
division  falls  within  this  category  must  be  left  to 
the  common  sense  of  the  compositor,  controlled 
by  the  reader.    A  few  obvious  instances  of  divi- 
sions never  admissible  under  any  circumstances 
are:  Oxf-ord,  jud-gment,  reme-mber,  assoc-iation, 
pri-nciples.1   Not  even  in  narrow  measure  are 
words  ending  in  ckle  —  buckle,  chuckle,  pickle,  etc. 
—  to  be  divided;  although  chuc-kle,   etc.,   are 
allowed  by  some  "authorities." 

8.  The  abbreviations  A.M.  (Master  of  Arts), 
Ph.D.,  and  other  degrees,  I.W.W.,  Y.M.C.A.,  A.M. 
(ante  meridiem),  P.M.,  A.D.,  and  B.C.  must  never  be 
divided. 

1  While  preparing  this  book  for  the  press  the  writer  noted  these 
divisions  made  by  compositors  on  the  Atlantic:  thro-ughout, 
ach-ieved,  smuggl-ing,  pe-oples,  mac-hineryl  She-lter,  too,  has  come 
under  his  eye;  and  the  editor  of  another  magazine,  finding  as- 
hamed divided  thus  on  his  proof,  "wanted  to  know"  if  it  was 
correct.  In  another  case,  the  compositor,  having  put  an  extra  i  in 
"requisites,"  divided  it  thus:  requisi-ties. 


48  SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION 

NOTE. —  In  the  "Atlantic"  it  is  allowable  to  divide  the  same 
word  differently  in  the  same  article,  and  even,  though  prefer- 
ably not,  on  the  same  page. 

The  above  are  the  only  rules  of  syllabification, 
deviations  from  which  are  forbidden  in  the  "At- 
lantic" itself.  A  fortiori  they  are  forbidden  in  all 
Atlantic  books;  and  in  all  of  the  latter  in  which 
the  measure  is  20  picas  or  more,  and  in  the  maga- 
zine when  even  spacing  or  the  exigencies  of  the 
make-up  will  permit,  these  additional  rules  are  to 
be  followed. 

9.  Two-letter  divisions  at  the  end  of  a  word  are 
to  be  avoided. 

This  qualification  in  italics  is  added  with  inten- 
tion, because  the  prohibition  is  commonly  ex- 
tended to  similar  divisions  at  the  beginning  of  a 
word ;  whereas  there  are  many  prefixes,  like  ex,  in, 
de,  be,  ab,  which  can,  with  perfect  propriety,  be 
left  by  themselves. 

10.  The  forms  pronounced  as  single  syllables, 
though  really  consisting  of  two  (see  paragraph  2 
above),  must  not  be  divided. 

1 1 .  Avoid,  if  possible,  dividing  the  last  word  on 
a  right-hand  page.   When  it  must  be  done,  it  is 
more  than  ever  desirable  to  let  the  part  left  be- 
hind suggest  the  rest  of  the  word ;  and  in  no  case 
must  less  than  three  letters  be  turned  over. 

12.  Avoid,  if  possible,  dividing  the  first  element 
of  a  compound  word;  otherwise   two   hyphens 


SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION  49 

having  different  values  are   brought   too   close 
together. 

13.  Do  not  divide  the  initials  of  a  name :  J.  H./ 
Smith  —  not  J.  /  H.  Smith. 

14.  Where  subdivisions  are  indicated  in  a  para- 
graph by  (a),  (&),  (i),  (2),  etc.,  do  not  end  a  line 
with  one  of  such  figures  or  letters. 

The  following  rules  as  to  the  use  of  "spaces" 
are  believed  to  result  in  improving  the  appearance 
of  the  page,  although  some  of  them  are  at  vari- 
ance with  those  followed  by  many  printers. 

1.  Never  resort  to  "letter-spacing"  —  separa- 
ting the  letters  of  a  word  —  in  order  to  fill  out  a 
widely  spaced  line.1 

2.  Never  spread  out  a  normally  spaced  line  in 
order  to  make  a  new  line. 

3.  Never  begin  a  page  or  a  column  with  the 
last  line  of  a  paragraph  unless  it  is  a  full,  normally 
spaced  line. 

4.  When  the  contracted  form  n't,  for  not,  is 
used  in  conjunction  with  a  verb,  it  is  to  be  set  and 
treated  as  a  separate  word,  as  if  it  were  spelled  in 
full. 

EXCEPTIONS.  —  When  the  contracted  form  is  pronounced  as 
one  syllable,  — don't,  can't,  sha'n't,  wa'n't,  —  it  is  set  as  a 
single  word.  Also  won't  and  ain't,  in  which  the  spelling  is 
changed. 

1  This  device  is  much  used  in  magazines  that  have  illustrations 
set  into  the  pages,  leaving  but  little  room  for  type  between  the 
illustration  and  the  side  of  the  page. 


50  SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION 

5.  A  thin  space  is  always  set  before  the  verb  in 
the  contractions  't  is,  't  was,  't  would,  etc. ;  also  in 
I'm,  I'll,  he's,  you're,  she'd  (she  would),  and  the 
like;  and  in  contractions  occurring  in  colloquial 
or  vulgar  writing,  where  the  first  letter,  or  let- 
ters, of  a  word  are  elided,  as:  "I  don't  know's  I 
will";  "  He  was  worse  'n  I  was."  But  when,  not- 
withstanding the  omission  of  the  letters,  the  two 
words  are  not  run  together  in  reading,  but  are 
pronounced  distinctly  as  separate  syllables,  the 
same  space  is  used  between  them  as  in  the  rest 
of  the  line;  as,  for  example,  take  'em. 

The  whole  matter  of  even  spacing  is  beset  with 
difficulty,  so  far  as  the  ordinary  book  or  magazine 
is  concerned,  owing  to  the  carelessness  and  indif- 
ference of  compositors  and  the  reluctance  of  print- 
ers to  comply  with  the  directions  of  proof-readers, 
editors,  and  authors  by  doing  the  necessary  over- 
running to  produce  the  desired  result.  And  the 
difficulty  is,  of  course,  the  greater,  the  narrower 
the  page  or  column.  The  utmost  that  can  be 
hoped  for  is  to  secure  a  page  in  which  widely 
spaced  and  thinly  spaced  lines  will  not  be  in  such 
close  juxtaposition  that  one  gets  an  impression  of 
broad  expanses  of  white  paper,  with  unmitigated 
black  bands  above  and  below.  In  the  good  old 
days  when  compositors  set  type  by  hand  and 
"worked  by  the  piece,"  they  were  required  to 


SPACING  AND  SYLLABIFICATION  51 

correct  flagrantly  bad  spacing  in  their  own  time. 
But  in  these  days  of  machine-composition,  as  key- 
board operators  work  by  the  hour,  and  cannot  be 
called  upon  to  do  their  work  over,  their  efficiency 
is  gauged  altogether  by  the  number  of  ems  they 
can  set  in  a  given  time.1  So  that  the  printer,  hav- 
ing to  pay  for  the  time  spent  in  correcting  bad 
work,  is  rather  prone  to  deny  that  the  work  is  bad. 
It  is  possible,  often,  to  avoid  controversy  by  add- 
ing or  taking  out  a  word,  by  substituting  though 
for  although,  on  for  upon,  or  vice  versa,  or  by  a 
slight  change  of  construction;  and,  in  the  maga- 
zine especially,  this  method  is  not  infrequently 
resorted  to. 

1  The  writer  recently  read  a  galley  proof  which  disclosed  that 
the  key-board  operator,  coming  to  the  end  of  a  thinly  spaced  line, 
found  that  she  had  no  room  for  the  last  two  letters  of  "improved." 
Instead  of  resetting  the  line,  she  ignored  the  letters,  and  went  on 
with  the  next  word.  When  the  letters  were  replaced,  the  whole  syl- 
lable, "-proved,"  had  to  be  taken  over  into  the  next  line,  with  the 
result  that  almost  an  entire  long  paragraph  had  to  be  overrun. 
Perhaps  the  obligation  to  bear  the  expense  caused  by  such  care- 
lessness accounts  for  the  printer's  reluctance  to  comply  with  what 
he  sometimes  calls  an  "even-spacing  fad." 


PUNCTUATION 

IN  Letter  XIV  of  Cobbett's  "English  Gram- 
mar," on  "The  Points  and  Marks  made  use  of  in 
Writing,"  he  says:  "You  will  see  that  it  is  quite 
impossible  to  give  any  precise  rules  for  the  use  of 
these  several  points.  Much  must  be  left  to  taste : 1 
something  must  depend  upon  the  weight  which  we 
may  wish  to  give  to  particular  words,  or  phrases; l 
and  something  on  the  seriousness,  or  the  levity,  of 
the  subject  on  which  we  are  writing." 

To  practically  the  same  effect  Mr.  W.  P.  Gar- 
rison wrote  in  the  "Atlantic"  some  fifteen  years 
ago:  "The  writer  on  the  'laws'  of  punctuation 
must  begin  by  admitting  that  no  two  masters  of 
the  art  would  punctuate  the  same  page  in  the 
same  way ;  that  usage  varies  with  every  printing- 
office  and  with  every  proof-reader ;  that  as  regards 
the  author,  too,  his  punctuation  is  largely  deter- 
mined by  his  style,  or,  in  other  words,  is  singular 
and  individual  —  '  singular,  and  to  the  humor  of 
his  irregular  self.'  The  same  writer  will  tell  you, 
further,  that  punctuation  will  vary  according  as 
one  has  in  view  rapidity  and  clearness  of  compre- 
hension, avoidance  of  fatigue  in  reading  aloud,  or 

1  We  may  presume  that  he  was  governed  by  taste  when  he  made 
use  of  this  colon  and  semicolon  in  exactly  parallel  cases. 


PUNCTUATION  53 

rhetorical  expression.  Worse  still,  coming  to  the 
conventional  signs  which  we  call  points  or  stops, 
he  is  bound  to  acknowledge  that  they  are  very 
largely  interchangeable,  at  the  caprice  of  authors 
or  printers.  Well  may  he  exclaim,  with  Robinson 
Crusoe,  '  These  considerations  really  put  me  to  a 
pause,  and  to  a  kind  of  a  full  stop.' " 1 

The  recent  (1919)  very  elaborate  work  on 
"  Modern  Punctuation,"  by  Mr.  George  Summey, 
Jr.,  of  the  North  Carolina  State  College,  seems  to 
confirm  in  the  fullest  degree  this  theory  of  the 
inevitable  uncertainty  of  punctuation.  Mr.  Sum- 
mey quotes  "a  Harvard  professor  of  English,  the 
author  of  a  well-known  textbook  on  English  Com- 
position," as  saying  of  punctuation, "  I  have  never 
yet  come  across  a  book  on  the  subject  which  did 
not  leave  me  more  puzzled  than  it  found  me"; 
and  these  words  he  accepts  as  an  "invitation," 
as  well  as  a  warning.  "Punctuation,"  he  says, 
"ought  to  be  understood,  because  it  is  bound  up 
with  the  important  social  art  of  communication 
in  writing.  And  it  need  be  no  more  mysterious 
than  harmony  of  tone  or  color  —  matters  at  least 
equally  difficult,  yet  successfully  reduced  to  use- 
ful theory." 

The  author  of  the  present  compilation  is  bound 
to  confess  that,  after  a  rather  careful  reading  of 
Mr.  Summey 's  25o-odd  pages,  he  laid  the  book 

i  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  233. 


54  PUNCTUATION 

down  with  a  firmer  conviction  than  ever  of  the 
impossibility  of  reducing  punctuation  to  useful 
theory;  for  it  seemed,  and  still  seems,  to  him  that 
the  whole  result  of  Mr.  Summey's  painstaking  elu- 
cidation of  the  subject  —  in  which  the  editorials 
in  certain  daily  and  weekly  j ournals  in  the ' '  hasty ' ' 
years  1917  and  1918  seem  to  be  treated  as  of  equal 
weight  with  the  writings  of  Walter  Pater  and 
Henry  James  in  establishing  what  modern  punc- 
tuation is  —  is  to  overcloud  it  in  mystery ;  and 
that  the  one  outstanding  conclusion  is  that  the 
authority  of  usage  can  be  claimed  for  the  employ- 
ment of  almost  any  punctuation  mark  for  almost 
any  purpose. 

The  writer  once  asked  the  advice  of  the  late 
Horace  E.  Scudder,  some  time  editor  of  the  "At- 
lantic," as  to  the  proper  treatment  of  the  punctu- 
ation of  an  early  seventeenth-century  "classic" 
of  which  he  (the  writer)  was  then  engaged  in  over- 
seeing a  new  edition,  supposed  to  be  a  reproduc- 
tion verbatim  ac  litter atim  of  the  original.  The 
work  in  question  was  itself  a  translation,  whose 
"quaintness"  has  always  been  assumed  to  make 
amends  for  its  failure  to  show  comprehension  of 
—  or,  at  all  events,  adequately  to  interpret  —  the 
author's  thought;  and  the  so-called  punctuation 
again  and  again  made  confusion  worse  confounded. 
Mr.  Scudder 's  suggestion,  that  the  main  purpose 
of  punctuation  is  to  assist  the  reader,  not  only  im- 


PUNCTUATION  55 

mensely  simplified  the  task  then  in  hand,  but  has 
remained  always  in  the  present  writer's  mind  as 
the  basic  principle  of  his  work  on  the  copy  and 
proof -sheets  of  the  "Atlantic"  during  the  years 
that  they  have  been  principally  in  his  charge.1 
For, as  was  said  by  the  late  Horace  Hart,  "Most 
writers  send  in  copy  quite  unprepared  as  regards 
punctuation,  and  leave  the  compositor  to  put  in 
the  proper  marks.  '  Punctuation  is  an  art  nearly  al- 
ways left  to  the  compositor,  authors  being  almost 
without  exception  either  too  busy  or  too  careless 
to  regard  it.'  " 2 

It  goes  without  saying  that,  in  the  case  of  a 
magazine  of  the  character  of  the  "Atlantic,"  there 
must  be  a  certain  uniformity  —  or,  at  least,  a 
vigorous  striving  after  uniformity  —  in  the  en- 
forcement of  certain  hard-and-fast  rules  of  punc- 
tuation applicable  to  all  cases.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  matter  of  the  use  or  omission  of  the  comma 
before  a  connective  joining  the  last  two  members 
of  a  series  of  adjectives,  or  nouns,  or  phrases,  or 
what  not :  the  practice  varies,  but  Atlantic  usage 
requires  the  use  of  the  comma  in  all  cases,  unless 

1  Stops  "are  to  be  regarded  as  devices,  not  for  saving  [the 
author]  the  trouble  of  putting  his  words  into  the  order  that  natu- 
rally gives  the  required  meaning,  but  for  saving  his  reader  the 
moment  or  two  that  would  sometimes,  without  them,  be  necessa- 
rily spent  on  reading  the  sentence  twice  over,  once  to  catch  the 
general  arrangement,  and  again  for  the  details."  The  King's  Eng- 
lish, p.  225. 

z  Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers,  etc.,  p.  56. 


56  PUNCTUATION 

the  last  two  members  of  the  series  are  more  closely 
connected  in  sense  or  construction  than  those  that 
precede ;  so  that  the  omission  of  the  comma  always 
implies  such  closer  connection.  One  very  satirical 
comment  from  a  critical  reader  comes  to  mind, 
to  the  effect  that  persons  of  ordinary  intelligence 
might  have  been  assumed  to  be  quite  competent 
to  work  out  for  themselves,  without  the  assistance 
of  the  comma,  the  fact  that  the  last  two  members 
of  a  certain  series  were  no  more  closely  connected 
with  each  other  than  with  the  preceding  members. 
One  might  say  with  equal  force  that  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  use  a  question  mark  with  a  direct  ques- 
tion, because  anybody  could  tell  from  the  form  of 
the  words  that  a  question  was  asked ;  whereas  the 
true  reason  for  the  use  of  that  mark  is  to  inform 
the  reader  that  the  sentence  is  interrogative,  what- 
ever the  arrangement  of  the  words.  ' '  Are  you  go- 
ing out  in  this  storm  ?  "  is  unmistakably  a  question ; 
but  "You're  not  going  out  in  this  storm"  may 
mean,  "Do  you  really  intend  to  go  out?"  or  "I 
forbid  you  to  go  out!"  according  to  the  punctua- 
tion mark  used  to  indicate  the  rhetorical  effect. 

Another  invariable  rule  requires  the  omission  of 
the  period  after  Roman  numerals,  because  they 
are  no  more  abbreviations  than  are  the  Arabic 
symbols.1  In  accordance  with  what  was  formerly 
the  universal  practice,  this  period  is  still  used  in 

1  See  p.  66  infra 


PUNCTUATION  57 

Great  Britain,  and  in  a  few  offices  in  this  country; 
but  in  a  magazine  more  or  less  used  for  educational 
purposes,  it  would  be  manifestly  absurd  to  follow 
one  rule  in  the  majority  of  cases,  and  to  allow  the 
other  form  to  stand  now  and  then  because  it  is 
found  in  the  copy. 

In  what  the  authors  of  "The  King's  English" 
describe  as  the  "formal  periodic  arrangement"  of 
sentences,  the  four  points,  period,  colon,  semico- 
lon, and  comma,  "form  a  series,  each  member  of 
which  directs  us  to  pause  for  so  many  units  of 
time  before  proceeding.  There  is  essentially  noth- 
ing but  a  quantitative  time-relation  between 
them.  The  first  difficulty  is  that  this  simple  dis- 
tinction has  to  convey  to  the  reader  differences  of 
more  than  one  kind,  and  not  commensurable;  it 
has  to  do  both  logical  and  rhetorical  work.  Its 
logical  work  is  helping  to  make  clear  the  gram- 
matical relations  between  parts  of  a  sentence  or 
paragraph  and  the  whole  or  other  parts ;  its  rhe- 
torical work  is  contributing  to  emphasis,  heighten- 
ing effect,  and  regulating  pace.  .  .  .  The  differ- 
ence between  these  two:  'The  master  beat  the 
scholar  with  a  strap,'  and  'The  master  beat  the 
scholar,  with  a  strap,'  is  in  logic  nothing;  but  in 
rhetoric  it  is  the  difference  between  matter-of-fact 
statement  and  indignant  statement:  a  strap,  we 
are  to  understand  from  the  comma,  is  a  barbarous 
instrument. 


58  PUNCTUATION 

"  It  is  true  that  modern  printers  make  an  effort 
to  be  guided  by  logic  or  grammar  alone;  it  is 
impossible  for  them  to  succeed  entirely;  .  .  .  the 
old  stopping  was  frankly  to  guide  the  voice  in 
reading  aloud,  while  the  modern  is  mainly  to 
guide  the  mind  in  seeing  through  the  grammatical 
construction. 

"A  perfect  system  of  punctuation,  then,  that 
should  be  exact  and  uniform,  would  require  sepa- 
rate rhetorical  and  logical  notations  in  the  first 
place.  Such  a  system  is  not  to  be  desired:  the 
point  is  only  that,  without  it,  usage  must  fluctuate 
according  as  one  element  is  allowed  to  interfere 
with  the  other.  But  a  second  difficulty  remains, 
even  if  we  assume  that  rhetoric  could  be  elimin- 
ated altogether.  Our  stop  series,  as  explained 
above,  provides  us  with  four  degrees;  but  the  de- 
grees of  closeness  and  remoteness  between  the 
members  of  sentence  or  paragraph  are  at  the  least 
ten  times  as  many.  It  is  easy  to  show  that  the 
comma,  even  in  its  purely  logical  function,  has  not 
one,  but  many  tasks  to  do,  which  differ  greatly  in 
importance.  .  .  .  Similarly,  the  semicolon  often 
separates  grammatically  complete  sentences,  but 
often  also  the  mere  items  of  a  list,  and  between 
these  extremes  it  marks  other  degrees  of  separa- 
tion. A  perfect  system  for  the  merely  logical  part 
of  punctuation,  then,  would  require  some  scores 
of  stops  instead  of  four.  This  again  is  not  a  thing 


PUNCTUATION  59 

to  be  desired ;  how  little,  is  clear  from  the  fact  that 
one  of  our  scanty  supply,  the  colon,  is  now  prac- 
tically disused  as  a  member  of  the  series,  and 
turned  on  to  useful  work  at  certain  little  odd 
jobs."  ' 

In  connection  with  the  "  formal  periodic  ar- 
rangement" of  sentences  described  in  the  fore- 
going quotation,  this  is,  perhaps,  a  convenient 
place  to  refer  to  a  rare  little  volume,  called  "  Punc- 
tuation in  Verse:  or  the  Good  Child's  Book  of 
Stops,"  by  one  Madame  de  Leinstein,  of  which 
there  is  a  copy  in  the  Children's  Department  of 
the  New  York  Public  Library;  this  copy,  through 
the  courtesy  of  Miss  Annie  Carroll  Moore  of  that 
department,  the  writer  was  allowed  to  examine. 
It  was  printed  in  London,  presumably  a  great 
many  years  ago,  —  it  bears  no  date,  —  consists  of 
only  thirty-odd  pages,  of  which  one  half  are  blanks, 
and  is  "Embellished  with  Twelve  handsomely 
colored  Engravings."  The  two  couplets  follow- 
ing (put  in  the  mouth  of  "Cook  Comma"),  — 

At  the  Comma,  each  reader  should  stay,  and  count  one; 
As,  "Charles  had  an  orange,  a  tart,  and  a  bun." 

At  each  Semicolon,  take  breath  and  count  two; 
As,  "This  is  a  Christian;  that  other,  a  Jew,"  — 

with  which  the  little  book  opens,  confirm,  as  will 
be  seen,  Messrs.  Fowlers'  statement  that  "the  old 
stopping  was  frankly  to  guide  the  voice  in  reading 

1  The  King's  English,  pp.  220  jf. 


60  PUNCTUATION 

aloud."  But  it  is  curious  to  observe  that,  by 
reversing  these  simple  rules,  we  can  measurably 
subserve  the  purpose  of  modern  ''stopping"  — 
"to guide  the  mind  in  seeing  through  the  gram- 
matical construction." 

For  example,  take  Cook  Comma's  first  exam- 
ple, "Charles  had  an  orange,  a  tart,  and  a  bun." 
To  show  how  it  should  be  read,  with  exactly  the 
same  pause  after  "tart"  as  after  "orange,"  we 
put  a  comma  after  each  word;  whereas,  in  the 
sentence,  "We  have  had  all  sorts  of  weather  to- 
day:  rain,  snow,  hail,  sleet,  thunder  and  lightning; 
but  we  can  expect  nothing  better  in  this  climate," 
we  omit  the  comma  after  "thunder,"  to  show  that 
there  should  be  no  pause  after  it,  because  it  and 
"lightning"  are  more  closely  connected  than  any 
other  two  atmospheric  disturbances.  That  is  to 
say,  instead  of  bidding  the  reader  "to  stay  and 
count  one"  when  he  sees  a  comma,  and  "two" 
when  he  sees  a  semicolon,  modern  rules  in  effect 
bid  the  writer  to  insert  a  comma  when  he  wishes 
the  reader  to  "stay  and  count  one,"  and  a  semi- 
colon when  he  wishes  to  indicate  a  slightly  longer 
pause,  as  after  "  lightning  "  in  the  sentence  above : 
a  decidedly  arbitrary  distinction,  of  course,  and 
capable  of  endless  variations,  but  still  not  without 
value. 

(Madame  Leinstein's  next  "rule,"  — 
For  the  Colon  count  three  —  for  the  Period  four,  — 


PUNCTUATION  61 

is  of  more  limited  application,  as  the  colon  has 
been  "practically  disused  as  a  member  of  the 
series/ '  and  as  the ' '  periodic ' '  system  is  manifestly 
inapplicable  to  the  period,  with  which  it  seems 
etymologically  most  closely  connected.) 

The  passage  quoted  above  from  "The  King's 
English"  seems  to  show  clearly  the  impossibility 
of  setting  down  any  fixed  rules  for  semicolons  and 
commas.1  This  being  so,  there  is  no  disposition  to 
thwart  the  author's  wishes,  so  long  as  they  can  be 
definitely  determined.  But  such  determination  is 
almost  never  possible  —  about  that,  there  can  be 
no  question.  The  practically  universal  use  of  the 
typewriter,  while  of  great  advantage  in  most 
cases,  —  though  by  no  means  in  all,  —  because  of 
the  greater  legibility  of  the  copy,  is  distinctly  dis- 
advantageous in  that  it  so  seldom  has  the  benefit 
of  careful  revision  by  the  author,  whether  he  is,  or 
is  not,  his  own  typist.  The  writer  has  no  hesita- 
tion in  saying  that  among  all  the  hundreds  of  arti- 
cles which  he  has  "prepared"  for  the  printer, 
there  have  not  been  half  a  dozen  in  which  such 
matters  as  punctuation,  capitalization,  and  the 
like  have  been  handled  with  entire  consistency 
throughout,  even  when  there  have  been  indica- 
tions of  revision  by  the  author.  Typists  are 

1  We  shall  see,  later,  that,  though  the  colon  has  been  practically 
eliminated  from  this  sort  of  problem,  the  dash  has  come  in  to  com- 
plicate matters. 


62  PUNCTUATION 

notoriously  unreliable  in  such  matters, —  I  am  not 
referring,  of  course,  to  the  trained  commercial  or 
professional  variety,  but  to  those  who  are  likely 
to  be  employed  by  authors,1  —  whether  from  ig- 
norance or  from  haste;  and,  as  I  have  said,  their 
work  is  often  left  unrevised  and  full  of  inconsist- 
encies, to  say  nothing  of  errors. 

Copy  occasionally  comes  in  with  instructions  to 
follow  it  exactly,  as  it  has  been  "carefully  pre- 
pared"; but  not  a  single  instance  comes  to  mind 
where  strict  compliance  with  such  instructions 
would  not  have  resulted  in  certain  blemishes  with 
which  the  author  would  probably  have  been  the 
first  to  find  fault. 

It  should  be  said,  also,  that  it  is  not  possible  in 
all  cases  to  give  the  authors  of  "Atlantic"  papers 
an  opportunity  to  read  proofs.  Many  of  the  pa- 
pers come  from  across  the  ocean ;  and  in  the  case 
of  many  others,  there  is  likely  to  be  so  much  need 
of  haste  in  "making  up"  the  magazine,  that  it  is 
impossible  to  await  the  return  of  galley  proofs,  even 
when  they  are  sent.  So  that  it  is  almost  always 
necessary,  even  apart  from  other  considerations, 
to  abide  by  the  general  usage  of  the  magazine  in 
the  matter  of  punctuation ;  for  the  make-up  of  the 
forms  cannot  be  disturbed  except  to  make  impor- 

1  A  little  book  published  by  the  Dennison  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany gives  a  good  idea  of  the  care  with  which  business  typists  are 
trained  to  write  — with  almost  as  close  attention  to  matters  usually 
connected  with  typography  alone  as  is  demanded  of  compositors. 


PUNCTUATION  63 

tant  corrections  in  the  text.  Thus,  in  the  case  of 
the  "Atlantic,"  it  may  be  said  that  " punctuation 
is  an  art  nearly  always  left,"  not  to  the  composi- 
tor, but  to  the  editorial  department  in  the  pre- 
paration of  the  copy,  and  to  the  proof-reader  in 
overlooking  both  preparation  and  composition. 

In  preparing  "Atlantic"  copy  for  printing,  then, 
as  well  as  in  reading  the  proofs,  an  attempt  is 
made  to  keep  constantly  in  mind,  so  far  as  punc- 
tuation is  concerned,  these  two  considerations: 
(i)  that  the  proper  function  of  the  various  points 
is  to  assist  the  reader;  and  (2)  that  the  maga- 
zine is  coming  to  be  widely  used  in  classes  in  Eng- 
lish Composition. 

The  hopelessness  (which  Mr.  Summey  makes 
so  clear)  of  attempting  to  formulate  iron-bound 
rules  for  the  internal  punctuation  of  sentences, 
together  with  the  desire,  discussed  more  at  length 
in  the  section  on  ' '  Spacing  and  Syllabification,' '  to 
produce  a  page  unmarred  by  uneven  spacing,  ex- 
cuses, it  is  believed,  the  assumption  of  a  some- 
what wide  discretion  in  the  method  of  pointing 
clauses  which  are  plainly  parenthetical,  — whether 
with  commas  or  dashes  or  parentheses,  —  so  long 
as  the  sense  is  in  no  wise  interfered  with. 

In  the  following  sections  an  attempt  is  made  to 
distinguish  between  those  cases  which  demand  the 
application  of  fixed  rules,  and  those  which  are  gov- 
erned by  the  general  principles  of  Atlantic  usage 


64  PUNCTUATION 

in  the  matter  of  punctuation,  subject  always  to 
the  fallibility  and  infirmities  of  editors  of  copy, 
compositors,  and  proof-readers. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  proper  use  of  the  colon, 
something  is  said  of  its  peculiar  employment  by 
Charles  Dickens,  who,  we  may  presume,  was  re- 
sponsible, generally  speaking,  for  the  punctuation 
of  his  own  works.  Even  if  we  did  not  know  that 
John  Ruskin  was  emphatically  his  own  punctua- 
tor, we  could  readily  assume  it  from  such  sen- 
tences as  the  following,  in  which  the  curious  mix- 
ture of  different  points  could  hardly  have  been 
evolved  from  the  brain  of  any  compositor  or  proof- 
reader. It  is  taken  from  "Sesame  and  Lilies." l 

A  web  more  fair  in  the  weaving,  by  Athena's  shuttle; 
an  armour,  forged  in  diviner  fire  by  Vulcanian  force  — 
a  gold  only  to  be  mined  in  the  sun's  red  heart,  where 
he  sets  over  the  Delphian  cliffs ;  deep-pictured  tissue, 
impenetrable  armour,  potable  gold !  — •  the  three  great 
Angels  of  Conduct,  Toil,  and  Thought,  still  calling  to 
us,"  etc. 

Speaking  of  "Lord"  Timothy  Dexter' s  famous 
expedient  of  bunching  his  points  at  the  end  of  his 
book,  for  his  readers  "to  pepper  and  salt  as  they 
chose,"  Mr.  Garrison  says,  in  the  paper  already 
quoted,  "This  ignoramus  intimated  two  truths  — 
one  that  punctuation  is,  to  a  large  extent  at  least, 

1  See  also  another  passage  from  the  same  work  in  the  section 
on  the  "Dash,"  p.  139  infra. 


THE  PERIOD  65 

a  personal  matter;  the  other  that  punctuation 
may  be  good  without  being  scientific."1  A  less 
extensive,  but  more  pointed,  application  of  Lord 
Timothy's  idea  by  Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan,  is 
narrated  by  Mr.  Hart,  on  the  authority  of  George 
Augustus  Sala. 

"In  the  House  of  Commons  Sheridan  one  day 
gave  an  opponent  the  lie  direct.  Called  upon 
to  apologize,  the  offender  responded  thus:  'Mr. 
Speaker  I  said  the  honourable  member  was  a  liar 
it  is  true  and  I  am  sorry  for  it.'  Naturally  the 
person  concerned  was  not  satisfied;  and  said 
so.  '  Sir,'  continued  Mr.  Sheridan, '  the  honourable 
Member  can  interpret  the  terms  of  my  statement 
according  to  his  ability,  and  he  can  put  punctua- 
tion marks  where  it  pleases  him.'  "J 

The  Period 

The  chief  use  of  the  period,  is,  of  course,  to 
mark  the  end  of  a  complete  sentence.* 
We  do  not  undertake  to  discuss  here  when  the 

1  Atlantic,  April,  1906,  pp.  238,  239. 

*  Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers,  etc.,  p.  57. 

3  It  is  impossible  to  define  the  word  "sentence"  in  connection 
with  the  use  of  the  period  without  laying  one's  self  open  to  the 
charge,  say,  of  reasoning  in  a  circle,  thus :  the  period  is  used  to  mark 
the  close  of  a  sentence,  which  is  a  grammatical  division  properly 
brought  to  a  close  by  a  period.  The  various  clauses,  separated  by 
semicolons,  or  even  by  commas,  of  what  is  called  a  complex  sen- 
tence, are  often,  and  properly,  spoken  of  as  so  many  sentences  in 
themselves;  so  we  have  tried  to  avoid  the  difficulty,  for  this  pur- 
pose, by  adopting  the  term  "complete  sentence." 

6 


66  PUNCTUATION 

sentence  is  so  "  complete  "  that  the  period  is  called 
for,  but  leave  that  question  for  inferential  treat- 
ment in  the  sections  on  the  colon  and  semicolon. 

The  period  is  used  after  abbreviations,  except 
chemical  symbols,  the  phrase  "per  cent,"  and  cer- 
tain other  technical  forms  which  appear  infre- 
quently in  the  "Atlantic,"  and  as  to  which  special 
instructions  are  always  given. 

The  term  "abbreviation,"  properly  applied  only 
to  forms  resulting  from  the  omission  of  a  letter 
or  letters  at  the  end  of  a  word,  is  here  intended 
to  include  contractions,  in  which  letters  are 
dropped  from  the  middle  of  a  word  —  as  advt.  In 
some  offices,  however,  a  certain  distinction  is 
made  between  the  two,  and  the  period  is  not  used 
where  the  last  letter  of  the  whole  word  is  retained 
—  as  Dr,  plf,  etc.  Thus  MS.  (manuscript)  takes  a 
period,  while  MSS  (manuscripts)  and  Mr  do  not. 
In  the  "Atlantic,"  contractions  are  printed  with 
a  period  when  the  omitted  letters  are  not  replaced 
by  an  apostrophe,  as  plf.,  advt.,  etc.;  but  pl'f, 
adv't,  etc. 

It  was  formerly  the  universal  practice,  still  fol- 
lowed by  some  printers,  to  use  a  period  with 
Roman  numerals,  and  with  the  technical  forms 
denoting  the  format  of  books;  but  these  are  not, 
strictly  speaking,  abbreviations,  and  the  period  is 
now  generally  omitted. 

Volume  iv,  George  V,  8vo,  i6mo,  etc. 


THE  PERIOD  67 

If  an  abbreviation  ends  a  sentence,  the  period  is 
not  repeated ;  but  all  other  punctuation  marks  are 
retained  with  the  abbreviation  period. 

These  great  Roman  writers:  Virgil,  Horace,  Lucre- 
tius, and  Catullus,  all  lived  in  the  first  century  B.C. 

The  meeting  was  announced  to  begin  at  4  P.M.,  but 
it  was  half  an  hour  later  when  the  speakers  entered  the 
hall. 

Occasionally  one  has  to  do  with  an  author  who 
insists  upon  repeating  the  period  when  the  abbre- 
viation ends  the  sentence.  If  the  conditions  are 
such  that  his  preference  must  be  followed,  the  un- 
happy proof-reader,  who  marks  the  extra  period 
on  successive  proofs,  can  count  upon  being  criti- 
cized as  a  blunderer  by  everybody  who  has  to  han- 
dle the  type  or  plates. 

The  period  is  set  always  inside  quotation 
marks.1  It  is  set  inside  the  closing  parenthesis  or 
bracket  when  the  parenthetical  matter  forms  a 
complete  independent  sentence  in  itself ;  otherwise 
outside. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  contrary  English  practice,  it  is  worth 
while  to  consult  the  late  Horace  Hart's  Rules  for  Compositors  and 
Readers,  etc.,  already  referred  to,  pp.  64  ff.  But  the  rule  there  laid 
down  —  "  If  an  extract  ends  with  a  point,  then  let  that  point  be 
included  before  the  closing  quotation  mark;  but  not  otherwise"  — 
is,  now,  so  far  as  the  period  is  concerned,  more  honored  in  the 
breach  than  in  the  observance,  even  in  England,  although  some 
of  the  leading  periodicals  there  and  a  few  printers  of  books  still  put 
the  period  outside  the  closing  quotation  mark.  Mr.  Hart,  of  course, 
is  discussing  the  position  of  all  punctuation  marks  ("  points")  with 
reference  to  "quotes." 


68  PUNCTUATION 

Ellipsis  Points 

Three  periods  are  used  to  indicate  the  omission 
of  one  or  more  words.  If  the  sentence  preceding 
the  ellipsis  ends  with  a  period,  that  period  is  not 
included  in  the  three  omission  points.1 

Certain  writers  have  a  habit,  more  or  less  per- 
sistent, of  using  what  Mr.  Summey2  calls  "re- 
inforcing suspension  periods,  —  a  row  of  dots, 
usually  three,  —  to  strengthen  or  modify  a  period, 
or  other  full  stop.  The  period,"  he  continues,  "  is 
a  sign  of  completion ;  the  period  with  suspension 
points  following  is  made  suspensive,  with  the  sug- 
gestion that  the  reader  is  to  think  a  moment  about 
the  preceding  words,  or  to  look  forward  with  spe- 
cial interest.  .  .  .  The  suspension  periods  are  not 
likely  to  mark  a  distinct  topical  break;  they  are 
indefinite  signs  of  meditation." 

Experience  with  many  hundreds  of  contribu- 
tions to  the  "Atlantic  "  justifies  a  strong  doubt  as 
to  the  accuracy  of  Mr.  Summey's  ascription  of 
this  "device"  to  American  writers  in  particular. 
Indeed,  the  only  example  he  gives  in  this  connec- 
tion is  taken  from  H.  G.  Wells. 

These  same  "suspension  periods"  are  used 
sometimes  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence,  marking 

1  In  most  fonts  of  type,  the  period  and  the  omission  points  dif- 
fer slightly;  but  for  the  purposes  of  this  book  they  can  safely  be 
treated  as  identical. 

8  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  59. 


ELLIPSIS  POINTS  69 

"preceding  matter  as  unfinished,  or  left  dangling 
for  an  instant,  for  special  attention." x  But  there 
is,  on  the  part  of  those  writers  who  habitually  use 
the  "suspension  periods"  in  either  of  the  above 
positions,  so  marked  a  lack  of  uniformity  of  pur- 
pose in  such  use,  —  even  by  the  same  persons  at 
different  times,2  —  and  their  significance  is  there- 
fore so  vague  and  indeterminate,  that  it  is  the 
practice  of  the  "Atlantic"  to  entrust  all  such 
functions  to  the  dash,  which,  to  quote  Mr.  Sum- 
mey  once  more,  is  "the  point  nearest  suspension 
periods  in  effect";  and  to  use  the  three  periods 
solely  as  ellipsis  (or  omission)  points.  This  rule 
may  be  suspended  in  compliance  with  the  urgent 
desire  of  an  author,  even  though  the  special  sig- 
nificance which  he  attributes  to  the  "suspension 
periods"  may  not  be  apparent  to  the  reader. 

The  very  few  sporadic  cases  of  the  use  of  these 
points  to  set  off  a  parenthetical  clause  that 
had  fallen  within  the  writer's  experience  seemed 
hardly  worthy  of  notice.  But  in  "The  Brim- 
ming Cup,"  Dorothy  Canfield's  latest  novel,  they 
are  so  used,  to  the  exclusion  of  dashes  and  par- 
entheses, with  a  consistency  that  seems  to  indi- 
cate malice  aforethought  on  the  author's  part. 
Here  is  an  example :  — 

1  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  183. 

*  In  Sir  Harry  Johnston's  The  Man  Who  Did  the  Right  Thing, 
they  are  used  for  all  purposes,  with  an  unsparing  lavishness  that 
defies  analysis  or  comprehension. 


70  PUNCTUATION 

It's  absurd  to  think  that  business  men  .  .  .  they're 
the  flower  of  the  nation,  they're  America's  specialty, 
you  know  .  .  .  can  only  find  their  opportunity  for  ser- 
vice to  their  fellow  men  by  such  haphazard  contacts. 

Speaking  of  ellipsis  points,  it  should  be  said 
that  some  printing-offices  use  a  full  line  of  periods 
to  indicate  the  omission  of  a  complete  paragraph 
or  more,  and  three  to  mark  a  lesser  omission.  This 
distinction  is  not  made  in  the  "Atlantic,"  except 
inverse,  where  an  omitted  line  or  stanza  is  replaced 
by  a  line  of  periods. 

The  Colon 

The  main  definition  of  "colon,"  as  a  mark  of 
punctuation,  in  the  "  Century  Dictionary,"  is  —  a 
point  "used  to  mark  a  discontinuity  of  grammati- 
cal construction  greater  than  that  indicated  by 
the  semicolon  and  less  than  that  indicated  by  the 
period."  We  have  already  referred,  in  the  intro- 
duction to  this  chapter,  to  the  inclusion  of  the 
colon  as  one  of  the  four  points  in  the  "formal, 
periodic  arrangement"  of  sentences,  quoting  the 
authors  of  "The  King's  English  "  to  the  effect  that 
it  has  now,  by  almost  universal  consent,  fallen 
into  disuse  as  one  of  that  series,  and  been  "turned 
over  to  useful  work  at  certain  little  odd  jobs." 
Indeed,  the  definition  quoted  above  is  practically 
contradicted  by  the  subdivisions  that  follow  but 
have  little  relation  to  it. 


THE  COLON  71 

"Many  people  continue  to  use  it,"  — we  are 
once  more  quoting  from  "The  King's  English," l 
—  "but  few,  if  we  can  trust  our  observation,  with 
any  nice  regard  to  its  value.  Some  think  it  a  pret- 
tier or  more  impressive  stop  than  the  semicolon, 
and  use  it  instead  of  that ;  some  like  variety,  and 
use  the  two  indifferently,  or  resort  to  one  when 
they  are  tired  of  the  other." 

The  truth  of  these  remarks  is  constantly  exem- 
plified in  "Atlantic"  copy;  and  a  consistent,  if  not 
always  successful,  effort  is  made  to  confine  the 
colon  to  the  specific  duties  to  which  it  is  now  gen- 
erally assigned. 

The  most  frequent  and  most  generally  accepted 
formal  uses  of  the  colon  are  two. 

(i)  To  introduce  a  direct  quotation.  In  Atlan- 
tic usage,  when  the  matter  thus  introduced  begins 
a  new  paragraph,  the  colon  is  followed  by  a  dash. 
(In  the  magazine,  when  the  quotation  is  intro- 
duced by  "said,"  or  an  equivalent  word,  a  comma 
is  used  instead  of  a  colon.) 

If,  however,  some  such  phrase  as  "he  said,"  or 
"he  answered,"  is  interpolated  within  the  quota- 
tion, a  period  should  be  used  before  it. 

After  another  selection  by  the  band,  Senator 

was  introduced  and  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"My  friends,  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  meeting,"  etc. 

1  Page  263. 


72  PUNCTUATION 

When  quiet  had  been  in  a  measure  restored,  the 
mayor  advanced  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  and  ad- 
dressed the  huge  audience  in  these  words. 

' '  Ladies  and  gentlemen , "  he  began , ' '  after  the  warmth 
of  this  greeting,"  etc. 

"The  colon  and  the  dash  have  many  functions 
in  common,"  says  Mr.  Garrison.  "  Either  may  be 
used  before  a  quoted  passage  —  and  so  may  the 
comma,  but  preferably  before  a  short  quotation."1 

(2)  After  the  formal  address  of  a  letter — • 
thus :  — 

MESSRS.  MARSHALL  FIELD  &  Co. 
GENTLEMEN  :  — 2 

The  colon  is  used  also  before  a  formal  list,  or 
before  statements  or  specifications  introduced  by 
a  general  statement,  or  by  such  words  or  phrases 
as  "thus,"  "namely,"  "for  example,"  "as  fol- 
lows," and  the  like.  This  rule  is  subject  to  many 
exceptions,  a  comma  being  sometimes  preferred 
when  the  general  style  of  the  work  is  less  formal, 
—  as  in  lighter  essays  and  stories,  —  and  the  dash 
being  often  a  legitimate  and  useful  substitute. 

The  remaining  function  to  which  the  colon  is 
assigned  in  the  purposed  practice  of  the  "Atlan- 

1  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  235. 

1  The  above  is  the  style  adopted  in  Atlantic  books.    In  the 
Atlantic  itself,  the  ordinary  style  would  be:  — 
GENTLEMEN,  — 


THE  COLON  73 

tic,"  while  really  akin  to  those  already  mentioned, 
is  less  easily  defined.  Perhaps  the  simplest  state- 
ment which  practically  embodies  the  idea  is  that 
given  by  the  oldest  authority  quoted  in  these 
pages,  Cobbett's  "English  Grammar":  — 

"The  colon  is  often  used  when  the  sense  is  com- 
plete, but  when  there  is  something  still  behind, 
which  tends  to  make  the  sense  fuller  or  clearer." 

Cobbett,  by  the  way,  frequently  violated  his 
own  rules,  generally  when  he  was  more  intent  on 
cudgeling  his  political  enemies  than  on  his  theme; 
as  in  this  instance,  where  his  own  precepts  de- 
mand a  semicolon  after  "demonstrates." 

How  destitute  of  judgment  and  of  practical  talent 
these  persons  have  been  in  the  capacity  of  statesmen 
and  of  legislators,  the  present  miserable  and  perilous 
state  of  England  amply  demonstrates:  and  I  am  now 
about  to  show  you,  that  they  are  equally  destitute  in 
the  capacity  of  writers. 

In  the  manual  by  Mr.  Horace  Hart  heretofore 
cited,  it  is  said  that  "the  colon  marks  an  abrupt 
pause  before  a  further  but  connected  statement." 

"The  colon,"  says  Mr.  Summey,1  "is  usually 
an  equality  mark,  with  emphasis  mainly  on  the 
explanation,  quotation,  or  other  following  mat- 
ter. Though  still  used  by  some  writers  as  a  com- 
pounding point,  no  more  anticipatory  than  the 
semicolon,  it  is  most  often  a  mark  of  anticipa- 

1  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  192. 


74  PUNCTUATION 

tion,  introducing  an  extract,  a  list,  or  matter  of 
any  sort  for  which  definite  preparation  has  been 
made." 

And,  according  to  the  Messrs.  Fowler,  two  of 
the  "odd  jobs"  are  (4)  "introducing  a  sentence 
that  conies  as  fulfilment  of  a  promise  expressed  or 
implied  in  the  previous  sentence;  (5)  introducing 
an  explanation  or  proof  that  is  not  connected  with 
the  previous  sentence  by  'for'  or  the  like."  1 

These  various  definitions  (which  may  be  taken 
to  include  such  specific  instances  as  the  use  of  this 
point  "before  a  series  of  details  in  apposition  with 
some  general  term,  as,  'Three  nations  adopted 
this  law:  France,  England,  and  Germany'  ";  and 
numerous  others  given  by  various  textbooks, 
handbooks,  and  manuals)  all  come  to  about  the 
same  thing,  and  the  following  digest  of  them  all 
was  prepared  for  the  guidance  of  compositors  and 
readers  on  the  "Atlantic  " :  — 

"The  colon  should  be  used  when  the  preceding 
part  of  a  sentence  is  complete  in  sense  and  con- 
struction, and  the  following  part  is  a  statement 
naturally  arising  from  it  or  explaining  it,  and  de- 
pending on  it  in  sense,  though  not  in  construc- 
tion." In  the  numerous  examples  that  follow,  the 
colon  is  correctly  used  according  to  this  rule,  the 
succeeding  words  being  in  each  case  an  explana- 
tion or  authentication  of  what  precedes. 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  263. 


THE  COLON  75 

The  cry  of  "  no  sentiment "  is  indeed  a  sinister  thing, 
for  it  is  a  sure  sign  that  the  meanest  sentiments  are 
de  facto  in  possession :  the  sentiments  which  set  the 
world  at  variance  with  itself,  the  sentiments  which 
prompt  contemptible  actions,  the  sentiments  which 
drive  men  and  nations  to  sell  their  souls.  —  L.  P. 

JACKS.1 

The  room  was  well  furnished  for  a  hut:  besides  the 
bed  and  the  table  there  was  a  writing-desk,  etc. 

Suppose,  for  example,  that  a  nation  declares  war  on 
any  member  of  the  League :  under  the  delegated  form, 
the  representative  body  would  meet,  etc. 

The  laughter  and  the  talking  ceased  abruptly.  I 
glanced  about:  every  flower  had  disappeared,  every 
head  was  bent. 

Tuira  had  risen  and  was  pulling  at  my  sleeve:  the 
meal  was  ready. 

There  was  a  great  deal  to  do  next  morning:  gifts  to 
select  and  present,  luggage  to  be  packed  and  stowed 
aboard  the  boat,  and  a  long  session  of  farewells. 

I  claim  that  there  is  only  one  Art :  that  the  picture, 
the  poem,  the  sonata,  the  statue,  the  cathedral,  are 
expressions  of  the  same  spiritual  ideals  through  differ- 
ent media. 

Nor  can  he  create  them  once,  and  forever  after  con- 
tain them:  each  time  that  they  are  before  him,  they 
must  be  created  afresh. 

France  has  reaped  from  [the  Revolution]  one  fruit, 
the  natural  and  legitimate  fruit,  though  not  precisely 
the  grand  fruit  she  expected :  she  is  the  country  in  Eu- 
rope where  the  people  is  most  alive.  —  ARNOLD. 

1  For  the  use  of  which  in  this  sentence,  see  p.  218  infra. 


76  PUNCTUATION 

That  is  what  I  call  living  by  ideas :  when  one  side  of  a 
question  has  long  had  your  earnest  support,  when  all 
your  feelings  are  engaged,  when  you  hear  all  round  you 
no  language  but  one,  when  your  party  talks  this  lan- 
guage like  a  steam-engine  and  can  imagine  no  other  — 
still  to  be  able  to  think,  still  to  be  irresistibly  carried, 
if  so  it  be,  by  the  current  of  thought  to  the  opposite  side 
of  the  question,  and,  like  Balaam,  to  be  unable  to  speak 
anything  but  what  the  Lord  has  put  in  your  mouth.  — 
ARNOLD. 

And  a  container  is  both  inert  and  indifferent:  a  pig 
idly  accepts  anything;  a  tool-chest  takes  no  active  part 
to  receive  its  tools.  —  HUXLEY. 

Leaving  aside  for  the  moment  the  question  of 
the  proper  assignment  of  responsibility  for  punc- 
tuation between  author  and  printer  (or  proof- 
reader) ,  it  is  probably  safe  to  assume  that  the  very 
peculiar  use  of  the  colon  by  Charles  Dickens,  no- 
ticeable in  all  editions  of  his  works  from  the  be- 
ginning, is  chargeable  to  him  alone. 

Mr.  Tupman  thought  of  the  widow  at  Rochester: 
and  his  mind  was  troubled.  —  Pickwick  Papers. 

The  echoes  caught  it  up,  the  owls  hooted  as  it  flew 
upon  the  breeze,  the  nightingale  was  silent  and  hid  her- 
self among  the  thickest  boughs :  it  seemed  to  goad  and 
urge  the  angry  fire,  and  lash  it  into  madness;  every- 
thing was  steeped  in  one  prevailing  red ;  the  glow  was 
everywhere;  nature  was  drenched  in  blood:  still  the 
remorseless  crying  of  that  awful  voice  —  the  Bell,  the 
Bell.  —  Barndby  Rudge. 


THE  COLON  77 

Mr.  Jingle  fell  on  his  knees,  remained  thereupon  for 
five  minutes  thereafter:  and  rose  the  accepted  lover 
of  the  spinster  aunt:  conditionally  upon  Tupman's 
perjury  being  made  clear  and  manifest.  —  Pickwick 
Papers. 

In  the  next  example,  from  another  source,  a 
semicolon  would  ordinarily  be  used  instead  of  the 
first  colon,  and  a  dash  instead  of  the  second. 

To  what  passes  with  the  anchored  vermin  we  have 
little  clue:  doubtless  they  have  their  joys  and  sorrows; 
their  delights  and  killing  agonies:  it  appears  not  how. 
—  R.  L.  STEVENSON. 

In  the  occasional  use  of  colons  to  enclose  a  par- 
enthetical clause,  as  in  the  first  of  the  following 
examples,  Dickens  does  not  stand  entirely  alone 
among  English  writers,  as  is  shown  by  the  second, 
taken  from  a  recent  novel;  but  no  such  use  is 
recommended  as  authorized  by  good  usage  in  any 
work  on  punctuation  that  has  come  under  the 
writer's  eye. 

As  he  sat  down  by  the  old  man's  side,  two  tears: 
not  tears  like  those  by  which  recording  angels  blot 
their  entries  out,  but  drops  so  precious  that  they  use 
them  for  their  ink:  stole  down  his  cheek.  —  Martin 
Chuzzlewit. 

So  was  the  keeper:  Macpherson  by  name:  and  more 
of  a  brother  than  any  —  an  elder  brother  —  was  John. 

There  seems  to  be  so  little  justification  for  the 
peculiar  use  of  the  colon  in  the  next  passage,  also 


78  PUNCTUATION 

from  a  recent  novel,  that  one  is  not  inclined  to 
hold  the  author  responsible  for  anything  more 
than  careless  proof-reading. 

She  engaged  Mrs.  Adams  to  take  her  place,  [a  semi- 
colon is  indicated  here]  and  although  the  parlour-maid 
took  offence  and  cut  the  painter  of  domestic  service, 
went  off  to  the  munitions  till  Sergeant  Frederick  Sum- 
mer should  get  leave  to  come  home  and  marry  her;  and 
they  were  obliged  to  engage  another  parlour-maid  in 
her  place  at  double  the  wages:  Mrs.  Rossiter  had  done 
a  very  wise  thing. 

The  colon  is  always  placed  outside  quotation 
marks,  as  it  is  generally  quite  impossible  to  follow 
the  rule,  sometimes  laid  down,  that  it  should  be 
inside  or  outside  according  as  it  is,  or  is  not, 
"  part  of  the  quotation."  In  most  cases  it  is  used 
in  relation  to  the  whole  sentence. 

The  Semicolon 

"The  semicolon  is  now  become  a  big  brother  of 
the  comma,"  says  Mr.  Garrison,1  "enabling  long 
sentences  to  be  subdivided  with  great  advantage 
to  comprehension  and  oral  delivery."  This  may 
be  recommended  as  a  general  statement  of  the 
chief  employment  of  the  semicolon,  it  being  sim- 
pler than,  yet  quite  as  intelligible  and  satisfactory 
as,  most  of  the  rules  to  be  found  in  handbooks 
and  manuals.  For,  after  all,  consideration  of  "ad- 
1  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  238. 


THE  SEMICOLON  79 

vantage  to  comprehension"  —  in  other  words,  of 
assistance  to  the  reader  —  assumes  greater  impor- 
tance in  the  matter  of  the  use  of  semicolons  and 
commas  than  anywhere  else. 

A  study  of  the  various  attempts  to  formulate 
rules  in  this  behalf  discloses  much  repetition  and 
much  inconsistency.  (In  a  number  of  works  one 
finds  no  other  assistance  than  something  like  this : 
"The  semicolon  is  used  in  sentences  like  the  fol- 
lowing.") As  a  simple  skeleton,  which,  although 
sadly  lacking  in  defmiteness,  may  serve  in  a  meas- 
ure as  a  guide  to  the  general  principle  involved, 
this  formula  is  suggested :  — 

The  semicolon  is  used  to  separate  sentences 
between  which  there  is  a  more  distinct  break  than 
is  usually  indicated  by  a  comma,  but  which  are 
too  closely  connected  to  be  printed  as  separate 
sentences.1 

In  other  words,  —  paraphrasing  Madame  de 
Leinstein's  rule  in  "The  Good  Child's  Book  of 
Stops  " :  "  At  each  semicolon  take  breath  and  count 
two,"  —  when  one  should  pause  long  enough  to 
count  two,  use  a  semicolon  instead  of  a  comma. 

Something  of  the  artist's  soul  must  go  to  the  making 
of  the  thing  created ;  and  as  the  artist  .  .  .  has  to  earn 
his  living,  etc.  —  W.  J.  LOCKE. 

1  Or,  as  Cobbett  puts  it  (English  Grammar,  ed.  1906,  p.  77), 
"The  semicolon  is  used  to  set  off,  or  divide,  simple  sentences,  in 
cases  where  the  comma  is  not  quite  enough  to  keep  the  simple  sen- 
tences sufficiently  distinct." 


8o  PUNCTUATION 

All  this  in  Balzac's  hands  becomes  an  organic  whole ; 
it  moves  together ;  it  has  a  pervasive  life ;  the  blood  cir- 
culates through  it ;  its  parts  are  connected  by  luminous 
arteries.  —  H.  JAMES. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  rebut  a  charge  that  the 
formula  suggested  above  contains  a  rather  flagrant 
specimen  of  the  classic  fallacy,  petitio  principii, 
in  assuming  that  the  distinctness,  or  lack  of  dis- 
tinctness, of  the  break  "usually  indicated  by  a 
comma,"  and  the  degree  of  connection  which  is 
too  close  to  permit  separate  sentences,  are  defi- 
nitely established  facts ;  whereas  they  are  likely  to 
be  defined  differently  by  different  writers  in  in- 
numerable cases.  All  of  which  means  simply  that, 
generally  speaking,  each  case  must  be  dealt  with 
on  its  own  merits,  unless  an  author  has  definite 
ideas  and  indicates  them  clearly,  in  which  case 
they  will  ordinarily  be  followed,  even  if  they  seem 
to  be  at  variance  with  Atlantic  usage,  especially 
if  they  have  to  do  with  the  author's  distinctive 
style,  or  are  intended  to  serve  a  special  rhetorical 
purpose.  For  example,  Anne  Douglas  Sedgwick, 
in  her  later  stories  at  least,  separates  by  periods 
sentences  that  might  properly  be  separated  by 
semicolons  only.1 

She,  too,  then  grew  very  pale.  It  was  as  he  had  fore- 
seen. She  had  not  really  believed.  It  had  only  been  a 

1  See  The  King's  English,  pp.  220  ff.,  for  a  discussion  of  "the 
spot-plague  —  the  tendency  to  make  full  stops  do  all  the  work." 


THE  SEMICOLON  81 

haunting  dream.  And  her  hope  had  been  that  to  him, 
too,  it  was  only  a  dream.  Poor  child !  Poor,  poor  child ! 
And  poor  Malcolm. 

The  following  "rules,"  laid  down  in  the  "Man- 
ual of  Style"  issued  by  the  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  are  quoted  here  as  a  striking  proof  of  the 
confusion  in  which  this  subject  is  enveloped. 

1 .  "A  semicolon  is  used  to  mark  the  division  of 
a  sentence  somewhat  more  independent  than  that 
marked  by  a  comma." 

One  would  naturally  think  at  first  glance  that 
"independent "  referred  to  "sentence " ;  but  it  is  a 
"division"  that  the  semicolon  is  said  to  "mark," 
so  that  "that  marked  by  a  comma"  must  mean 
that  "division " ;  hence  it  is  "  the  division  of  a  sen- 
tence" that  is  "  more  independent"  —  a  manifest 
absurdity. 

2.  "In  enumerations  use  a  semicolon  between 
the  different  links  if  these  consist  of  more  than  a 
few  words  connected  [italics  ours],  and  especially  if 
individual  clauses  contain  any  punctuation  mark 
of  less  value  than  a  period,  or  an  exclamation  or 
interrogation  point  (unless  enclosed  in  parentheses) 
[italics  ours],  yet  are  intimately  joined  one  with 
the  other,  and  all  with  the  sentence  or  clause 
leading  up  to  them,  for  instance,  through  de- 
pendence upon  a  conjunction  like  that  preceding 
them." 

Aside  from  the  question  of  clarity  of  language  in 


82  PUNCTUATION 

this  rule,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that,  in  the  first 
illustrative  example  under  this  head,  three  of  the 
"  links  "  consist  of  one  word,  one  of  two  words,  and 
one  of  three;  and  although  there  is  an  individual 
clause  containing  punctuation  of  less  value  than 
a  period,  it  is  enclosed  in  parentheses;  so  that  no 
part  of  the  rule  is  applicable. 

The  following  sentences  are  good  examples  of 
the  correct  use  of  semicolons. 

It  is  right  that  a  false  Latin  quantity  should  excite  a 
smile  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  but  it  is  wrong  that  a 
false  English  quantity  should  not  excite  a  frown  there. 

—  RUSKIN. 

We  find  such  a  perfume  in  Shakespeare ;  we  find  it,  in 
spite  of  his  so-called  cynicism,  in  Thackeray;  we  find 
it,  potently,  in  George  Eliot,  in  George  Sand,  in  Tur- 
genieff .  —  H.  JAMES. 

When  you  think  that  we  dress  in  black  ourselves, 
and  put  our  fellow-creatures  in  green,  pink,  or  canary- 
colored  breeches;  that  we  order  them  to  plaster  their 
hair  with  flour,  having  brushed  that  nonsense  out  of 
our  own  heads  some  fifty  years  ago ;  that  some  of  the 
most  genteel  and  stately  among  us  cause  the  men  who 
drive  their  carriages  to  put  on  little  Albino  wigs,  and 
sit  behind  great  nosegays,  etc.  —  THACKERAY. 

But  some  day,  when  experience  shall  have  winnowed 
you  with  her  wing;  when  the  illusions  and  hopes  of 
youth  alike  are  faded ;  when  eternal  principles  of  order 
are  more  to  you  than  sensations  that  pass  in  a  day, 
however  exciting;  when  friends  that  know  you  and 
your  roots  and  deviations  are  more  satisfactory,  how- 


THE  SEMICOLON  83 

ever  humdrum  and  hoary  they  be,  than  the  handsome 
recent  acquaintances  that1  know  nothing  of  you  but 
the  hour;  when, in  short, your  beingis  mellowed, dulled, 
and  harmonized  by  time  so  as  to  be  a  grave,  wise, 
deep,  and  discerning  moral  and  intellectual  unity  (as 
mine  is  already  from  the  height  of  my  forty  centuries!), 
etc. 

And  this  characteristic  passage  of  George  Mere- 
dith, although  merely  an  enumeration  of  the  guests 
at  a  dinner-party,  would  be  quite  hopelessly  in- 
volved without  the  semicolons. 

Present  at  a  dinner  little  indicating  the  last,  were 
Whitmonby,  in  lively  trim  for  shuffling,  dealing,  cut- 
ting, trumping,  or  drawing  trumps ;  Westlake,  polish- 
ing epigrams  under  his  eyelids;  Henry  Wilmers,  who 
timed  an  anecdote  to  strike  as  the  passing  hour  without 
freezing  the  current;  Sullivan  Smith,  smoked,  cured, 
and  ready  to  flavour ;  Percy  Dacier,  pleasant  listener, 
measured  speaker,  and  young  Arthur  Dacier,  the  neo- 
phyte of  the  hostess's  training,  of  whom  she  had  said 
to  Emma,  etc. 

In  the  first  of  the  two  following  passages  from 
"Sesame  and  Lilies"  the  use  of  the  colon,  instead 
of  a  semicolon,  is  justified  by  no  rule  or  usage 
that  has  come  to  the  writer's  notice;  and  in  the 
second,  while  the  first  semicolon  is  the  appropriate 
mark,  the  other  usurps  the  place  of  a  colon,  the 
last  clause  being  explanatory  of  the  one  imme- 
diately preceding. 

1  On  this  use  of  that  for  who,  see  p.  207  infra. 


84  PUNCTUATION 

I  put  aside  his  [Scott's]  merely  romantic  prose  writ- 
ings as  of  no  value:  and  though  the  early  romantic 
poetry  is  very  beautiful,  etc. 

We  find  in  all  a  quite  infallible  and  inevitable  sense 
of  dignity  and  justice;  a  fearless,  instant,  and  untiring 
sense  of  duty  .  .  .  and,  finally,  a  patient  wisdom  of 
deeply  restrained  affection,  which  does  infinitely  more 
than  protect  its  objects  from  momentary  error;  it 
gradually  forms,  animates,  and  exalts  the  characters, 
etc. 

And  in  this,  the  semicolon  should  be  placed 
after  "county,"  and  should  be  replaced  by  a 
comma  after  "another." 

One  view  called  to  another;  one  hill  to  its  fellow, 
half  across  the  county,  and  since  I  could  answer  at  no 
more  trouble  than  the  snapping  forward  of  a  lever,  I 
let  the  county  flow  under  my  wheels.  —  KIPLING. 

As  to  the  misuse  of  the  semicolon  in  this  next 
quotation,  the  authors  of  "The  King's  English" 
say:  "  It  looks  as  if  Carlyle  had  thought  it  dull  to 
have  so  many  commas  about ;  but  the  remedy  was 
much  worse  than  the  dullness." x 

Nay,  do  not  the  elements  of  all  human  virtues  and 
all  human  vices ;  the  passions  at  once  of  a  Borgia  and  of 
a  Luther,  lie  written,  in  stronger  or  fainter  lines,  in  the 
consciousness  of  every  individual  bosom ! 

The  rule  generally  laid  down,  that  semicolons 
should  be  used  to  separate  independent  clauses  or 
1  Page  257. 


THE  SEMICOLON  85 

sentences  that  have  commas  or  dashes  within 
themselves,1  is  often  a  convenient  guide;  but  it  is 
by  no  means  of  universal  application :  in  less  for- 
mal matter,  when  the  sense  is  not  to  be  mistaken, 
commas  are  often  sufficient,  and  give  a  lighter  and 
freer  touch.  Strict  enforcement  of  the  rule  would 
require  a  semicolon  after  "aloud"  in  the  first  of 
the  next  two  examples,  and  after  "house"  in  the 
second. 

He  belonged  to  the  class  of  his  countrymen  who  have 
a  dungeon-vault  for  feelings  that  should  not  be  suffered 
to  cry  aloud,  and  into  this  oubliette  he  cast  them,  let- 
ting them  feed  as  they  might,  or  perish. 

He  became  a  guest  at  her  London  house,  and  his  re- 
port of  the  domesticity  there,  and  notably  of  the  house, 
pleased  Lady  Dunstane  more  than  her  husband's. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  following,  from  a  let- 
ter of  William  James,  the  semicolons  were  made 
necessary  by  the  interpolation  of  the  phrase  "na- 
tional .  .  .  foremost." 

I  am  against  all  big  organizations  as  such,  national 
ones  first  and  foremost;  against  all  big  successes  and 
big  results;  and  in  favor  of  the  external  forces  of  truth. 

For  the  benefit  of  those  who  may  like  to  go 
more  deeply  into  the  question  when  commas,  and 
when  semicolons,  should  be  placed  between  gram- 

1 "  When  the  sentence  contains  commas  doing  less  important 
work  than  the  one  about  which  the  question  arises."  The  King's 
English,  p.  257. 


86  PUNCTUATION 

matically  independent  sentences  ("sentences  in 
the  proper  meaning  of  the  word"),  we  quote  the 
following  from  "  The  King's  English,"  referring  the 
reader,  at  the  same  time,  to  the  numerous  exam- 
ples there  given  of  the  improper  use  of  commas. 

"Though  independent  sentences  are  regularly 
parted  by  at  least  a  semicolon,  there  are  large 
exceptions  to  the  rule.  .  .  .  There  are  three  con- 
ditions that  may  favor  the  reduction  of  the  semi- 
colon to  a  comma:  (i)  Those  coordinating  con- 
junctions which  are  most  common  tend,  in  the 
order  of  their  commonness,  to  be  humble,  and  to 
recognize  a  comma  as  sufficient  for  their  dignity. 
The  order  may  perhaps  be  given  as :  and,  or,  but, 
so,  nor,  for;  conjunctions  less  common  than  these 
should  scarcely  ever  be  used  with  less  than  a  semi- 
colon; and  many  good  writers  would  refuse  to 
put  a  mere  comma  before  for.  (2)  Shortness  and 
lightness  of  the  sentence  joined  on  helps  to  lessen 
the  need  of  a  heavy  stop.  (3)  Intimate  connection 
in  thought  with  the  preceding  sentence  has  the 
same  effect."1 

In  a  formal  enumeration,  independent  clauses 
or  sentences,  especially  if  marked  in  order  by  let- 
ters or  figures,  should  be  separated  by  semicolons 
if  compressed  in  a  single  paragraph ;  but  if  each 
is  given  a  separate  paragraph,  the  better  practice 
is  to  use  periods. 

1  Pages  255,  256. 


THE  SEMICOLON  87 

The  procession  entered  the  Senate  Chamber  in  the 
following  order :  the  President,  who  took  his  seat  on  the 
Vice-President's  right  hand;  the  Justices  of  the  Su- 
preme Court;  the  members  of  the  Cabinet;  the  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Representatives,  headed  by  the 
Speaker,  military  and  naval  officers  in  order  of  rank; 
invited  guests. 

The  subjects  to  be  discussed  are  three  in  number:  — 

(1)  The  desirability  of  a  league  of  nations. 

(2)  The  adequacy  or  inadequacy  of  the  proposed 
League,  as  its  duties  and  powers  are  defined  in  the 
Covenant  that  forms  part  of  the  treaty. 

(3)  The  form  of  the  "reservations,"  if  any,  which 
should  be  made  part  of  the  resolution  of  ratification. 

The  combination  of  semicolon  and  dash  was 
formerly  used  with  much  greater  frequency  than 
now —  sometimes  where  the  best  modern  usage 
calls  for  the  colon;  as  in  this  passage  from  "The 
Scarlet  Letter" :  — 

Here,  it  is  true,  were  none  of  the  appliances  which 
popular  merriment  would  so  readily  have  found  in  the 
England  of  Elizabeth's  time,  or  that  of  James; — no 
rude  shows  of  a  theatrical  kind ;  or 1  minstrel,  with  harp 
and  legendary  ballads,  nor1  gleeman,  with  an  ape  dan- 
cing to  his  music. 

One  needs  only  to  glance  through  the  works 
of  Ruskin,  Emerson,  and  scores  of  other  writers 
of  eminence  of  a  half-century  ago,  to  appreciate 
the  free  use  of  this  combination  and  the  impossi- 
bility of  attributing  to  it  any  special  or  definite 

*As  to  this  use  of  or  and  nor,  see  p.  235  infra. 


88  PUNCTUATION 

significance.  It  is  sometimes  described  as  a  "  rein- 
forced," or  "strengthened"  semicolon.  It  has 
long  been  falling  into  disuse,  although  it  is  by  no 
means  obsolete.  But  it  is  never  used  in  the  "At- 
lantic," and  in  Atlantic  books  only  in  reprinted 
matter. 

At  the  end  of  quotations,  the  semicolon  is  al- 
ways set  outside  the  quotes,  because  in  such  cir- 
cumstances it  is  almost  invariably  used  in  relation 
to  the  whole  sentence.  In  any  event,  the  frequent 
suggestion  that  it  should  be  set  inside  the  quotes, 
"  if  it  is  a  part  of  the  quotation,"  is  practically  im- 
possible to  follow,  for  obvious  reasons. 

NOTE.  —  Mr.  Garrison,  in  the  "Atlantic"  paper  so  often 
quoted,  gives  this  curious  account  of  an  early  use  of  the  semi- 
colon: "In  the  days  of  the  scribes,  it  shared  with  the  colon 
a  function  now  confined  to  the  period,  viz.,  of  denoting  a  ter- 
minal abbreviation  —  sometimes  standing  apart,  as  in  un- 
diq  ;  (for  undique) ;  sometimes  closely  attached  to  the  final  let- 
ter, as,  g;  for  que.  The  early  printers  duly  adopted  this,  with 
other  conventions  of  the  manuscripts.  When  the  Gothic  let- 
ter was  abandoned  for  the  Roman,  a  curious  result  ensued  in 
the  case  of  the  abbreviation  of  videlicet  (viz.).  The  semicolon 
was  detached  from  the  i,  but  no  longer  as  a  point.  It  took 
the  shape  of  the  letter  it  resembled  in  Gothic  script,  though 
not  in  Roman  print,  and  thus  really  gave  a  twenty-seventh 
letter  to  our  alphabet  —  a  pseudo  z.  Not  unnaturally,  it  ac- 
quired the  sound  of  z  or  ss,  as  exemplified  in  the  lines  from 
'Hudibras':  — 

"  That  which  so  oft  by  sundry  writers 
Has  been  applied  t'  almost  all  fighters, 
More  justly  may  b'  ascribed  to  this 
Than  any  other  warrior,  viz. 


THE  COMMA  89 

"Naturally,  too,  it  ceased  even  to  signify  a  contraction; 
for  our  printers  follow  it  with  a  period  (viz.)  for  that  purpose; 
and  if  the  practice  observed  by  Goetz  of  Cologne,  of  using  a 
zed  for  a  period,  had  prevailed,  we  might  have  seen  the  odd 
form  vizz  arise."1 

The  Comma 

The  comma  is  by  far  the  most  frequently  used 
mark  of  punctuation ;  it  is  much  more  likely  to  be 
overworked  than  underworked ;  and  this  tendency, 
being  generally  recognized,  leads  some  writers  to 
go  to  the  other  extreme  and  to  follow  rather  too 
closely  Mr.  DeVinne's  preference  for  the  "open  or 
easy  system"  over  the  "close  or  stiff  system"  in 
ordinary  descriptive  writing:  (i)  by  the  use  of 
commas  where  semicolons  would  be  of  more 
assistance  to  the  reader; 2  (2)  by  the  omission  of 
commas  where  the  grammatical  relation  between 
words,  phrases,  and  clauses  cannot  be  properly 
indicated  without  them.  There  is  a  broad  twilight 
zone  where,  so  far  as  the  sense  is  concerned,  the 
use  or  omission  of  the  comma  makes  no  real  dif- 
ference, but  is  largely  a  matter  of  taste;  and  in 
such  cases,  the  best  modern  practice  undoubtedly 
inclines  toward  much  greater  economy  in  its  use 

1  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  237. 

2  It  is  difficult  to  draw  a  definite  line,  in  this  matter  of  the  choice 
between  comma  and  semicolon,  and  say  how  far  it  should  be  dis- 
cussed under  the  one  head  or  the  other.  For  instance,  the  writer 
finds  that  he  has  quoted  in  the  semicolon  section  the  sentences  im- 
mediately following  the  passage  of  The  King's  English  quoted 
below. 


90  PUNCTUATION 

than  was  customary  until  within,  say,  the  last  half- 
century. 

The  intricacy,  when  dealt  with  scientifically, 
of  this  apparently  simple  subject  is  illustrated  by 
the  following  extract  from  "The  King's  English," 
under  the  heading:  "The  comma  between  inde- 
pendent sentences." 

"Among  the  signs  that  more  particularly  be- 
tray the  uneducated  writer  is  inability  to  see 
when  a  comma  is  not  a  sufficient  stop.  Unfortu- 
nately little  more  can  be  done  than  to  warn  be- 
ginners that  any  serious  slip  here  is  much  worse 
than  they  will  probably  suppose,  and  recommend 
them  to  observe  the  practice  of  good  writers. 

"It  is  roughly  true  that  grammatically  inde- 
pendent sentences  should  be  parted  by  at  least  a 
semicolon;  but  in  the  first  place  there  are  very 
large  exceptions  to  this;  and  secondly,  the  writer 
who  really  knows  a  grammatically  independent 
sentence  when  he  sees  it  is  hardly  in  need  of  in- 
struction ;  this  must  be  our  excuse  here  for  enter- 
ing into  what  may  be  thought  too  elementary  an 
explanation.  Let  us  take  the  second  point  first; 
it  may  be  of  some  assistance  to  remark  that  a 
sentence  joined  to  the  previous  one  by  a  coordi- 
nating conjunction  is  grammatically  independ- 
ent, as  well  as  one  not  joined  to  it  at  all.  But  the 
difference  between  a  coordinating  and  a  subordi- 
nating conjunction  is  itself,  in  English,  rather  fine. 


THE  COMMA  91 

Everyone  can  see  that '  I  will  not  try;  it  is  dan- 
gerous '  is  two  independent  sentences  —  independ- 
ent in  grammar,  though  not  in  thought.  But  it 
is  a  harder  saying  that '  I  will  not  try,  for  it  is  dan- 
gerous' is  also  two  sentences,  while  'I  will  not 
try,  because  it  is  dangerous'  is  one  only.  The  rea- 
son is  that '  for'  coordinates,  and  '  because '  subor- 
dinates; instead  of  giving  lists  ...  of  the  two 
kinds  of  conjunctions,  we  mention  that  a  subor- 
dinating conjunction  may  be  known  from  the 
other  kind  by  its  being  possible  to  place  it  and  its 
clause  before  the  previous  sentence  instead  of 
after,  without  destroying  the  sense:  we  can  say, 
'  Because  it  is  dangerous,  I  will  not  try,'  but  not, 
1  For  it  is  dangerous,  I  will  not  try.'  This  test  can- 
not always  be  applied  in  complicated  sentences; 
simple  ones  must  be  constructed  for  testing  the 
conjunction  in  question."  l 

The  purpose  of  this  book  is  more  modest,  and 
can  be  served,  it  is  believed,  so  far  as  the  comma 
is  concerned,  by  giving  a  few  rules  which,  while 
not  perhaps  to  be  followed  absolutely  in  every  in- 
stance, are  of  nearly  universal  application  in  the 
classes  of  cases  to  which  they  respectively  refer. 

I .  The  comma  is  used  after  a  word  or  words  of 
address  or  salutation  at  the  beginning  or  end  of  a 
sentence,  and  both  before  and  after  such  word,  or 
words,  within  a  sentence. 

1  The  King's  English,  pp.  254, 255. 


92  PUNCTUATION 

0  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  us! 

My  lady  Countess,  suffer  my  page  to  kiss  your  hand. 
Thy  blessing  on  thy  people,  Lord ! 
And  grant,  O  most  merciful  Father,  for  his  sake. 
Of  course,  Mrs.  Warwick,  it  is  not  for  me  to  hint  at 
things  that  lawyers  could  say  on  this  subject. 

2.  In  a  series,  —  whether  of  nouns,  or  of  adjec- 
tives or  adverbs  used  absolutely  or  modifying  the 
same  word,  —  a  comma  should  be  used  after  each 
member  (except,  usually,  the  last,  when  the  series 
consists  of  modifying  words,  as  in  the  last  two 
examples  below). 

The  United  Kingdom  comprises  England,  Scotland, 
Wales,  and  Ireland,  of  which  England  is  usually  called 
the  predominant  partner. 

In  nature,  character,  and  intellect,  he  has  no  rival. 

1  think  that  you  would  like  him,  he  is  so  tender,  so 
gentle,  and  so  mild,  although  fully  as  big  as  a  calf. 

The  cross-examination  was  most  searchingly,  inex- 
orably, almost  cruelly  conducted,  to  the  utter  discom- 
fiture of  the  witness. 

The  God  of  heaven  and  earth  loves  active,  modest, 
and  kind  people,  and  hates  idle,  proud,  greedy,  and 
cruel  ones. 

3.  When  the  last  two  members  of  a  series  are 
connected  by  and,  the  comma  should  not  be  omit- 
ted before  and  unless  those  two  are  more  closely 
related  in  sense  to  each  other  than  to  those  that 
precede.  In  all  the  foregoing  examples,  the  comma 


THE  COMMA  93 

is  rightly  retained,  but  it  is  rightly  omitted  in 
those  that  follow. 

Bad  health,  a  feeling  of  the  purposelessness  of  his 
own  particular  existence,  his  philosophic  doubts  and 
his  constant  preoccupation  with  them  —  all  these  com- 
bined, etc. 

The  omission  of  the  comma  after  "doubts" 
shows  that  his  preoccupation  was  with  them,  and 
not  with  his  health  and  the  feeling  of  the  purpose- 
lessness of  his  existence  as  well. 

Zinovieff  shot  over  five  hundred  of  the  bourgeoisie 
at  a  stroke  —  nobles,  professors,  officers,  journalists, 
men  and  women. 

Here,  the  omission  of  the  comma  after  men 
means  that  the  classes  previously  mentioned  — 
nobles  and  the  rest  —  were  of  both  sexes. 

On  one  side,  elemental  order,  sandstone  and  granite, 
rock-ledges,  peat-bog,  forest,  sea  and  shore,  and,  on  the 
other  part,  thought,  the  spirit  which  composes  and 
decomposes  nature  —  here  they  were,  side  by  side, 
god  and  devil,  mind  and  matter,  king  and  conspirator, 
.  .  .  riding  peacefully  together  in  the  eye  and  brain 
of  every  man.  —  EMERSON. 

When  all  the  members  of  a  series  are  connected 
by  and,  or,  or  nor,  no  commas  are  required  be- 
tween them. 

He  was  a  learned  and  wise  and  upright  man. 
I  can't  remember  who  told  me  —  whether  it  was 
Smith  or  Brown  or  Jones  or  Robinson. 


94  PUNCTUATION 

Here  little  coyote  was,  without  any  house  or  clothes 
or  book  or  anything. 

In  him  there  abode  neither  faith  nor  hope  nor  char- 
ity —  to  any  appreciable  extent. 

If  commas  are  used  in  such  cases,  it  is  always  for 
greater  emphasis  or  impressiveness  —  that  is,  for 
a  rhetorical,  not  a  logical,  purpose. 

There  is  Concord,  and  Lexington,  and  Bunker  Hill, 
and  there  they  will  remain  forever. 

Neither  the  Court,  nor  society,  nor  Parliament,  nor 
the  older  men  in  the  army  have  yet  recognized  the 
fundamental  truths,  etc. 

There  was  nothing  in  his  career  to  distinguish  him 
above  the  common  herd :  neither  his  intellect,  nor  his 
learning,  nor  his  industry,  nor  his  record  of  achieve- 
ment. 

And  let  me  tell  him  further,  as  my  lord  will  tell  you, 
gentlemen,  that  a  counsel,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty 
to  his  client,  is  neither  to  be  intimidated,  nor  bullied, 
nor  put  down ;  and  that  any  attempt  to  do  either  the 
one  or  the  other,  or  the  first,  or  the  last,  will  recoil  on 
the  head  of  the  attempter,  be  he  plaintiff,  or  be  he  de- 
fendant, be  his  name  Pickwick,  or  Noakes,  or  Stokes, 
or  Stiles,  or  Brown,  or  Thompson. 

A  comma  should  always  be  used  before  &c.  or 
etc.,  at  the  end  of  a  series,  or  of  an  unfinished  quo- 
tation; but  the  use  of  these  abbreviations,  except 
in  quoted  matter  or  in  footnotes,  is  avoided  in  the 
"Atlantic." 


THE  COMMA  95 

4.  When  a  series  of  adjectives,  without  connec- 
tive, precedes  a  noun,  all  the  members  should  be 
separated  by  commas  unless  the  last  one  is  more 
closely  related  to  the  noun,  so  that  the  earlier  ones 
modify  the  two  together ;  in  which  case  the  comma 
is  omitted  before  the  last  adjective. 

But  hope  only;  for  this  instinctive,  reckless  virtue 
cannot  last. 

Instinctive  and  reckless  both  modify  "virtue." 

.  .  .  any  foreign  city  in  which  the  spread  of  your 
presence  is  not  marked  ...  by  a  consuming  white 
leprosy  of  new  hotels  and  perfumers'  shops. 

Consuming  modifies  "white  leprosy." 

Here  little  coyote  was,  with  his  big  furry  ears,  and 
his  clean  white  teeth,  and  his  joyful,  cheerful  little 
body. 

Big  modifies  "furry  ears,"  clean  modifies  "white 
teeth,"  and  joyful  and  cheerful  modify  "little 
body." 

The  late  Mr.  Henry  James,  having,  in  his  later 
books  and  in  the  revised  versions  of  his  earlier 
ones,  found  abundant  employment  for  all  the  com- 
mas of  which  he  could  conscientiously  make  use, 
in  pointing  off  the  numerous  parenthetical  and 
quasi-parenthetical  clauses  with  which  his  sen- 
tences are  so  profusely  besprinkled,  disregarded  in 
great  measure  the  hitherto  universally  accepted 
rule  for  the  use  of  commas  between  adjectives 


96  PUNCTUATION 

modifying  the  same  noun.  But  in  this  he  has 
been  followed,  if  at  all,  only  timidly  and  half-heart- 
edly, and  it  is  believed  that  his  practice  in  this 
respect  is  not  to  be  regarded  as  authority.  In  the 
story  called  "Pandora"  the  following  sentence 
occurs :  — 

He  was  a  model  character  for  such  a  purpose  —  seri- 
ous civil  ceremonious  curious  stiff. 

As  an  instance  of  his  later  manner  of  overwork- 
ing the  comma  in  other  directions,  this  passage 
from  "The  Princess  Cassamassima "  may  serve. 
In  the  original  version,  a  love-scene  between  the 
hero  and  a  young  woman  is  brought  to  a  close 
thus:  — 

"My  dear  girl,  you're  a  comfort,"  Hyacinthe  added 
as  they  moved  further. 

In  the  revised  version  the  following  sentence  is 
added : — 

Soon  after  which,  the  protection  afforded  by  the  bole 
of  a  great  tree  being  sufficiently  convenient,  he  had,  on 
a  large  look  about  them,  passed  his  arm  round  her,  and 
drawn  her  closer  and  closer  —  so  close  that,  as  they 
again  passed  together,  he  felt  her  yield,  with  a  fine 
firmness,  as  it  were,  and  with  the  full  mass  of  her 
interest. 

But  Mr.  James  is  almost  outdone  at  this  game 
by  a  very  modern  novelist,  who  writes:  — 


THE  COMMA  97 

Aunt  Selina,  snatching  at  her  own  immunity,  has 
also  shared,  by  suggestion,  with  you,  a  new  freedom,  at 
once  attainable. 

5.  Generally  speaking,  the  comma  is  used  be- 
tween the  separate  but  closely  connected  elements 
of  a  sentence.1 

His  ears  and  face  are  black,  his  eyes  are  yellow,  his 
paws  are  magnificent,  his  tail  keeps  wagging  all  the 
time,  and  he  makes  on  me  the  impression,  etc.  — 
WILLIAM  JAMES. 

That  so  they  might  keep  their  mountain  waters  pure, 
their  mountain  paths  peaceful,  and  their  traditions  of 
domestic  life  holy. 

6.  A  comma  should  generally  be  placed  before 
not,  or  not  only,  not  merely,  not  simply,  and  the  like, 
introducing  an  antithetical  clause,  and  before  the 
corresponding  correlative  but,  but  also,  etc.    But 
the  application  of  this  rule  sometimes  leads  to  an 
unpleasant  degree  of  stiffness,  and  it  is  subject  to 
many  exceptions,  which  it  is  impossible  to  classify. 
In  the  examples  that  follow  it  will  be  noted  that 
the  comma,  when  it  is  used  before  not,  always 
means  that  we  naturally  pause  at  least  long 
enough  to  "count  one." 

The  Puritan  hated  bear-baiting,  not  because  it  gave 
pain  to  the  bear,  but  because  it  gave  pleasure  to  the 
spectators.  —  MACAULAY. 

1  It  is  sometimes  difficult  to  draw  the  line  between  this  rule  and 
those  relating  to  the  members  of  a  series  (numbers  2  and  3  above). 

8 


98  PUNCTUATION 

These  instances  are  presented,  not  to  belittle  the 
power  of  the  United  States,  but  to  make  clear,  etc. 

And  after  all,  justice  consists,  not  in  correcting  or 
punishing  past  injustice,  but  in  the  constant  and  per- 
petual desire  to  satisfy  the  reasonable  wants  of  every 
man. 

Whenever  two  of  the  talkers  met  at  the  same  table, 
there  was  danger  of  an  unedifying  encounter,  not  so 
much  of  wits  as  of  temper. 

By  faith  you  can  move  mountains ;  but  the  important 
thing  is,  not  to  move  the  mountains,  but  to  have  the 
faith. 

Now  it  is  a  fad  with  some  people  to  talk  as  if  the  war 
had  not  only  made  necessary,  but  made  actual,  a  vast 
religious  revival. 

The  Board,  however,  showed  plainly  that  Colman 
was  not  only  a  sage,  but  a  best-dresser. 

If  the  correlative  is  omitted,  the  comma  should 
ordinarily  be  omitted  before  not,  etc.,  and  a  semi- 
colon be  placed  at  the  end  of  the  not  clause. 

The  significant  thing  is  not  that  those  brought  before 
them  are  not  treated  as  criminals;  it  is  that  their  de- 
linquencies, etc. 

If  we  substitute  "but"  for  "it  is,"  a  comma 
should  be  inserted  before  the  first  not,  and  the 
semicolon  be  changed  to  a  comma. 

7.  A  comma  should  be  used  when  the  subject 
changes,  even  if  there  are  but  two  clauses,  and 
they  are  joined  by  and,  unless  they  are  very  closely 
connected  in  thought;  generally,  also,  when  the 


THE  COMMA  99 

voice  or  mood  changes,  though  the  subject  re- 
mains the  same. 

The  banished  of  Eden  had  to  put  on  metaphors,  and 
the  common  use  of  them  has  helped  largely  to  civilize 
us. 

Her  hat  was  suited  for  all  weathers,  and  she  had 
made  it  herself. 

She  determined  to  learn  riding,  and  was  forced  to 
admit  that  the  exercise  was  too  strenuous  for  her. 

In  the  following  example,  the  comma  is  prop- 
erly omitted  between  the  first  two  clauses,  and  in- 
serted before  the  third. 

He  was  the  man  and  she  was  the  woman,  and  the 
world  was  a  Garden  of  Eden,  conjured  up  by  the  power 
of  passion. 

8.  A  comma  is  required  both  before  and  after 
an  explanatory  word  or  phrase  within  a  sentence; 
that  is  to  say,  between  words,  or  a  word  and  a 
phrase,  in  apposition. 

Most  of  the  white  inhabitants  were  Scots  merchants, 
men  who  had  monopolized  Virginia  business  before  the 
Revolution,  lost  all  their  gains,  .  .  .  and  returned 
happily  for  more. 

A  colon  after  "merchants"  would  be  logical, 
but  too  stiff  and  formal ;  according  to  modern  prac- 
tice, a  dash  would  be  an  acceptable  alternative. 

The  great  Whig  general,  Churchill,  with  his  wife, 
exerted  a  controlling  influence  over  the  Queen's  mind. 


IOO 


PUNCTUATION 


The  question,  "Shall  the  resolution  of  ratification 
pass?"  was  put  amid  intense,  but  controlled,  excite- 
ment. 

So  that,  in  all  cases,  with  Scott  as  with  Shakespeare, 
it  is  the  woman  who  watches  over,  teaches,  and  guides 
the  youth.  —  RUSKIN. 

9.  A  comma  should  generally  be  placed  after 
the  following  words  and  phrases  at  the  beginning 
of  a  sentence,  either  suggesting  a  relation  to  what 
has  gone  before,  or  referring,  in  a  general  sense,  to 
what  follows.  The  same  and  similar  words  and 
phrases  should  be  set  off  by  commas  when  they 
occur  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence. 


Again  (not  relating  to 

time) 

Besides  (object  omitted) 
Finally 
First  (firstly) 
Further  (furthermore) 
However 
Indeed 
Meanwhile 
Moreover 
Naturally 

After  all 

At  any  rate  (in  any  case, 

at  all  events) 
At  last 
At  least 

For  instance  (for  example) 
In  the  first  place,  etc. 


Nay 

Now  (not  relating  to 
time) 

Perhaps  (perchance,  per- 
adventure,  mayhap) 

Secondly,  thirdly,  etc. 

Therefore 

Well 

Wherefore  (not  interrog- 
ative) 

Why  (not  interrogative) 

In  the  meantime 

Of  course 

On  the  one  hand 

On  the  other  hand  (on  the 

contrary) 

That  is  (that  is  to  say) 
To  be  sure 


THE  COMMA  101 

These  lists  are  by  no  means  exhaustive.  More- 
over, one  should  be  careful  to  make  sure  of  the 
sense  in  which  the  word  or  phrase  in  question 
is  used.  "The  [proof-] reader  is  not  to  be  com- 
mended, who,  being  told  that  the  word  however 
was  usually  followed  by  a  comma,  insisted  upon 
altering  a  sentence  beginning  '  However  true  this 
may  be,'  etc.,  to  'However,  true  this  may  be.'  MI 

Besides,  the  decision  of  Judge ,  of  the  United 

States  District  Court  of  Connecticut,  will,  if  affirmed 
by  the  Supreme  Court,  cost  the  government  hundreds 
of  millions  of  dollars. 

Finally,  even  words  that  have  not  begun  to  be  natu- 
ralized may  be  used  exceptionally,  when  a  real  point 
can  be  gained  by  it. 

Further,  it  may  be  said  with  even  greater  force  that 
the  whole  business  is  bad  politics  as  well  as  bad  morals. 

Secondly,  it  is  a  sound  principle  that  as  few  stops 
should  be  used  as  will  do  the  work. 

Meanwhile,  the  feet  of  the  couple  were  going  faster 
than  their  heads  to  the  end  of  their  journey. 

Why,  no  such  outrageous  scheme  was  ever  put  for- 
ward before! 

It  is,  at  any  rate,  defensible  under  these  circum- 
stances. 

Of  course,  anyone  can  imagine  a  condition  of  affairs 
in  which  such  repressive  measures,  or  much  more  re- 
pressive ones,  might  be  justified.1 

1  Hart,  Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers,  etc.,  p.  58  n. 

2  "Of  course"  does  not  require  a  comma  in  such  simple  con- 
structions as:  "Did  you  go  to  your  father's  study  as  you  were 
told?"  "Of  course  I  did." 


102  PUNCTUATION 

Perhaps,  after  all,  the  Redworths  of  the  world  were 
right.  —  MEREDITH. 

The  first  thing,  therefore,  that  a  bishop  has  to  do  is, 
at  least,  to  put  himself  in  a  position  in  which,  at  any 
moment,  he  can  obtain  the  history,  etc.  —  RUSKIN. 

Nay,  I  will  go  further  and  confess,  since  here  if  any- 
where we  are  candid,  etc.  —  LOWES  DICKINSON. 

Perhaps,  however,  before  proceeding  to  analyze  the 
spiritual  ideals  of  the  American  people,  I  had  better 
give  some  idea  of  their  country.  —  LOWES  DICKINSON. 

No  one,  to  begin  with,  is  more  conscious  than  a  true 
socialist  of  the  importance  of  science. 

Gautier's  death,  indeed,  in  the  nature  of  things 
could  not  but  be  touching  and  dispose  one  to  large 
allowances. 

Well,  now,  assuming  this  standpoint,  let  us  go  on  to 
see  how  some  of  the  questions  look  which  have  been 
touched  upon. 

10.  Participial  clauses  at  the  beginning  of  a 
sentence  should  be  followed  by  a  comma. 

Having  reached  this  point  in  the  ascent,  he  turned  to 
look  back. 

Thinking  over  his  abrupt  retirement  from  the 
crowded  circle,  Diana  felt  her  position  pinch  her. 

11.  In  general,  a  comma  should  follow  any 
clause  placed  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence  out  of 
its  natural  order,  for  emphasis,  or  to  serve  some 
other  end. 

Of  such  a  rule,  all  men,  dimly  and  at  moments,  are 
aware.  —  LOWES  DICKINSON. 


THE  COMMA  103 

For  people  like  myself,  there  is  no  longer  a  place  in 
politics. 

In  "Romeo  and  Juliet,"  the  wise  and  entirely  brave 
stratagem  of  the  wife  is  brought  to  ruinous  issue  by  the 
reckless  impatience  of  her  husband.  —  RUSKIN. 

Instead  of  trying  to  do  this,  you  turn  away  from  it. 

This  practice  is  carried  to  extremes  by  news- 
paper correspondents  of  the  present  day,  in  devis- 
ing their  so-called  "leads"  to  attract  attention  at 
once  to  what  they  consider  the  most  important 
feature  of  a  "story."  The  examples  that  follow 
are  found  on  two  pages  of  a  journal  that  happens 
to  lie  at  the  writer's  hand. 

Ignoring  the  state  department's  order  of  deporta- 
tion, Secretary  of  Labor  Wilson  today  granted  Lord 
Mayor  O'Callaghan  of  Cork,  who  arrived  in  Newport 
News  last  week  without  a  passport,  permission  to  land 
as  a  seaman. 

Surprised  at  the  failure  of  the  Secretary  of  Labor  to 
recognize  the  formal  ruling  of  the  state  department, 
ordering  deportation  of  Mr.  O'Callaghan  .  .  .  Acting 
Secretary  of  State  Davis  announced  tonight,  etc. 

Close  on  the  heels  of  rumors  that  Police  Commis- 
sioner Enright  had  offered  his  resignation  to  Mayor 
Hylan,  subpoenas  were  served  today  on  both  officials, 
etc. 

Although  liquor,  some  of  it  good,  but  much  of  it  bad, 
still  is  obtainable  in  large  quantities,  the  head  of  the 
prohibition  enforcement  corps  believes,  etc. 


104  PUNCTUATION 

Before  an  altar  of  ferns  and  roses,  under  an  arch 
draped  by  the  American  flag,  with  extreme  simplicity 
that  even  precluded  music,  Mme.  Amelita  Galli-Curci, 
coloratura  soprano,  and  Homer  Samuels,  pianist  and 
composer,  her  accompanist,  were  married  at  noon  to- 
day at  his  home  here. 

12.  A  single  comma  should  not  stand  between 
the  subject  and  predicate,  as  in  the  sentences 
given  below.  In  each  of  them  the  difficulty  can  be 
avoided  by  inserting  a  comma  where  the  brack- 
eted comma  stands,  before  the  subordinate  modi- 
fying clause.  But  when  this  cannot  logically  be 
done,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  case  of  denning 
relative  clauses,  it  is  the  better  practice  to  omit 
the  offending  comma,  although,  under  the  desig- 
nation of  "suspensive  comma,"  its  use  is  insisted 
upon  by  some  authors. 

A  few  words  [,]  well  chosen  and  well  distinguished, 
will  do  work  that  a  thousand  cannot.  —  RUSKIN. 

Also,  a  great  nation  [,]  having  made  up  its  mind  that 
hanging  is  quite  the  wholesomest  process  for  its  homi- 
cides in  general,  can  yet  with  mercy  distinguish  be- 
tween the  degrees  of  guilt  in  homicide. 

But  always  the  artist  [,]  in  launching  a  new  work  on 
the  world,  does  offer  for  sale  a  part  of  that  within  him 
which  we  are  bound  to  call  his  soul.  —  W.  J.  LOCKE. 

Mr.  Pickwick  [,]  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  and 
his  hat  cocked  completely  over  his  left  eye,  was  leaning 
against  the  dresser. 


THE  COMMA  105 

Therefore  the  creative  power  of  poetry  wanted  [,] 
for  success  in  the  highest  sense,  materials  and  a  basis. 

In  the  next  sentence  the  comma  is  hardly  ex- 
cusable ;  in  the  one  from  Emerson  commas  might 
conceivably  be  supplied  before  the  two  withs;  but 
the  result  would  be  intolerably  stiff  and  jerky, 
and  it  would  be  much  better  to  omit  those  after 
"spirit "  and  "passion."  Ruskin's  punctuation  is 
sui  generis  here,  as  often  elsewhere. 

Those  of  us  whose  memories  go  back  twenty-five 
years  or  so,  remember  it  as  the  medium  of  that  great 
music-hall  artist,  Albert  Chevalier. 

But  observe  that  from  those  who  with  deepest 
spirit,  meditate,  and  with  deepest  passion,  mourn.  — 
EMERSON. 

The  elements  that  feed  us,  judge,  as  they  minister  — 
and  the  pleasures  that  deceive  us,  judge,  as  they  in- 
dulge. —  RUSKIN. 

It  is  sometimes  said  that  the  comma  may  on 
occasion  properly  be  used  between  subject  and 
predicate  "for  the  sake  of  clearness";  also  that 
"it  should  always  be  used  at  the  end  of  a  long, 
modified  subject";  but  it  would  seem  to  be  the 
more  logical  practice  to  use  the  comma  only  to 
avoid  downright  awkwardness  or  patent  ambi- 
guity. "The  considerable  length  of  the  subject,  it 
must  be  admitted,  makes  a  comma  comforting;  it 
gives  us  a  sort  of  assurance  that  we  have  kept  our 


106  PUNCTUATION 

hold  on  the  sentence.  It  is  illogical,  however,  and, 
owing  to  the  importance  of  not  dividing  subject 
from  verb,  unpleasantly  illogical."  l 

In  the  next  two  examples  the  subject  and  its 
verb  are  not  divided,  although  the  subject  is  in 
each  case  long  and  modified. 

The  very  fact  that  the  same  word,  "romantic,"  is 
used  to  designate  the  wonder  of  the  infinite  and  the 
wonder  of  the  limitless  shows  how  early  we  merge  to- 
gether these  extreme  opposites.  —  P.  E.  MORE. 

It  should  seem  that  a  party  whose  theories  are  based 
on  confidence  in  untrammeled  human  nature  ought  to 
present  the  aims  .  .  .  of  mankind  in  a  fairer  light  than 
its  adversary.  —  P.  E.  MORE. 

In  each  of  the  following  the  comma  seems  to 
be  necessary:  in  the  first  two,  to  separate  the 
is's;  in  the  others,  to  obviate  any,  even  momen- 
tary, hesitation  as  to  the  syntax  of  the  words 
immediately  preceding  and  following  the  comma. 
"Sometimes,"  says  Mr.  Garrison,  "we  must  be 
willfully  ungrammatical  in  order  to  be  lucid."2 

Whatever  is,  is  right. 

How  irrational  this  dislike  is,  is  proved  both  by 
logic  and  by  the  pleasure  taken  in  this  custom  by  the 
61ite  of  mankind  over  here.  —  W.  JAMES. 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  240.  And  see  the  examples  given  on 
that  and  the  following  page,  from  Swift,  Huxley,  Bryce,  Emerson, 
Balfour,  Leslie  Stephen,  and  Morley. 

1  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  239. 


THE  COMMA  107 

So  the  women  who  should,  veiled  themselves,  and 
the  others  remained  like  pillars  of  stone. 

Anything  that  impairs  the  welfare  of  the  humblest 
mortal,  is  fatal  to  the  moral  welfare  of  the  greatest. 

The  boy  in  "Pickwick"  who  secured  the  tight  gold 
chain  by  butting  with  his  head,  alone  had  realized  a 
short  method  with  eloquent  talkers. 

The  rise  of  such  a  society  to  such  power  as  it  now 
has,  witnesses  to  profound  modifications  in  the  prev- 
alent religious  conceptions. 

The  comma  between  subject  and  verb  is  much 
more  frequently  justifiable  when  the  subject  is  a 
phrase  than  when  it  is  a  noun,  especially  when 
the  phrase  ends  with  a  word  that  may  at  first  sight 
be  mistaken  for  the  subject  of  the  verb. 

That  a  clear  conscience  is  still  the  best  bedfellow,  is 
the  conclusion  you  have  arrived  at. 

What  the  theoretical  purpose  may  be,  matters  little. 

How  new  was  the  idea,  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that 
Lavoisier  himself,  was  afterwards  .  .  .  led  to  call  oxy- 
gen, the  name  by  which  it  has  since  been  known,  "the 
principle  which  enters  into  combustion."  —  SIR  M. 
FOSTER. 

In  the  last  example,  the  commas  after ' '  oxygen ' ' 
and  "known"  are  hardly  strong  enough,  and 
should  be  replaced  by  dashes  or  parentheses. 

It  remains  only  to  call  attention  to  those  cases 
of  a  comma  between  subject  and  verb  for  which 
there  seems  to  be  no  justification  unless  it  be  some 


io8  PUNCTUATION 

undisclosed  rhetorical  motive  in  the  mind  of  the 
author.  Such  motive  can  seldom,  if  ever,  be  suf- 
ficient to  justify  the  confusion  caused  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  obtrusive  mark. 

A  little  hard-headed  Ripstone-pippin-faced  man, 
was  conversing  with  a  fat  old  gentleman.  —  DICKENS. 

But  the  crew  of  the  Bounty,  mutinied  against  him, 
and  set  him  half  naked  in  an  open  boat.  —  BORROW. 

Depreciation  of  him,  fetched  up  at  a  stroke  the  glit- 
tering armies  of  her  enthusiasm.  —  MEREDITH.1 

Although  Dickens  was  a  confirmed  sinner  in 
this  respect,  it  is  questionable  whether  any  writer 
of  repute  has  ever  been  so  addicted  to  this  habit 
as  Emerson.  The  following  examples  are  taken 
from  two  of  his  essays. 

A  strong,  astringent,  bilious  nature,  has  more  trucu- 
lent enemies  than  the  slugs,  etc. 

The  secret  of  the  world  is,  the  tie  between  persons 
and  events. 

A  certain  degree  of  progress  from  the  extremes,  is 
called  Civilization. 

And  all  that  the  primary  power  or  spasm  operates, 
is,  still,  vesicles,  vesicles. 

Another  besetting  peculiarity  of  the  same  au- 
thor, namely,  the  use  of  a  second  comma  between 
the  verb  "is"  and  its  complementary  subject,  is 
thus  commented  upon  by  "The  King's  English": 

1  This  and  the  preceding  example  are  borrowed  from  The  King's 
English,  p.  239. 


THE  COMMA  109 

" Impress! veness  is  what  is  aimed  at;  it  seems  to 
us  a  tawdry  device  for  giving  one's  sentence  an 
ex  cathedra  air." 

The  reason  why  the  world  lacks  unity,  is,  because 
man  is  disunited  with  himself. 

The  charm  in  Nelson's  history,  is,  the  unselfish 
greatness. 

One  more  faggot  of  these  adamantine  bandages,  is, 
the  new  science  of  statistics. 

13.  It  is  equally  important  that  the  object 
should  not  be  separated  by  a  single  comma  from 
the  verb  that  governs  it.  In  the  first  of  the  exam- 
ples that  follow,  the  comma  is  simply  wrong ;  in 
the  second,  a  comma  after  "carry"  would  justify 
the  otherwise  unjustifiable  one  after  "nature"; 
in  the  third,  the  comma  after  ' '  ideas, ' '  which  sepa- 
rates "drew"  from  its  object,  "groups,"  not  only 
is  illogical,  but  leads  one  to  think  for  the  moment 
that  "groups"  and  "usages"  are  members  of  a 
series  of  which  "ideas"  is  the  first  member.  In 
the  fourth  example,  the  comma  after  "within" 
is  necessary,  to  stamp  that  word  at  once  as  an 
adverb,  not  a  preposition  governing  "the  peace." 

It  was  noteworthy  that  he  took  from  the  lowest  or- 
ders of  creation,  the  examples  upon  which  he  based  his 
demonstration. 

It  enables  him  to  cany  even  into  his  observation  of 
nature,  a  delicate  penetration,  etc. 


no  PUNCTUATION 

In  saying  that  the  Encyclopaedists  began  a  political 
work,  what  is  meant  is  that  they  drew  into  the  light 
of  new  ideas,  groups  of  institutions,  usages,  etc. 

Art  is  no  better  able  than  nature  permanently  to 
reestablish  within,  the  peace  that  has  been  destroyed 
without. 

When  the  object  is  placed  before  the  verb,  for 
any  purpose  (generally  for  emphasis),  a  comma 
between  the  two  is  often  necessary,  to  avoid 
ambiguity. 

This,  man  alone  can  accomplish. 

.  .  .  the  buttons  are  lost,  but  the  garments  remain ; 
the  garment  is  lost,  but  the  sitter  remains;  the  sitter  is 
lost,  but  the  shadow  remains;  and  that,  night  cannot 
efface  from  the  printer's  inspiration.  —  WHISTLER. 

The  evil  diplomacy  had  wrought,  publicity  was  to 
cure.  What  secret  diplomacy  had  made  possible,  pub- 
licity was  to  make  impossible.  —  STRUNSKY. 

Shakespeare  adhered  to  the  rule  (if  he  ever 
heard  of  it)  of  no  comma  between  object  and  verb, 
when  a  modern  writer  would  probably  have  disre- 
garded it. 

Thy  own  wish  wish  I  thee.  —  Love's  Labor's  Lost. 

14.  One  rule  which,  we  believe,  admits  of  no 
exception  is  this:  that  parenthetical,  or  quasi- 
parenthetical,  or  modifying  clauses  or  phrases  of 
any  sort  should  be  set  off  by  commas  both  before 
and  after  (assuming,  of  course,  that  dashes  or  pa- 


THE  COMMA  HI 

rentheses  are  not  substituted  for  commas).  As 
we  have  seen,  illogical  separation  of  subject  and 
predicate  can  often  be  avoided  by  invoking  this 
rule,  which  is,  however,  of  much  more  extensive 
application. 

Sometimes  the  sentence  was  never  announced,  but 
now  and  then,  annoyed  at  his  over-indulgent  char- 
ity he  allowed  her  impatience  the  privilege  of  speech. 
—  S.  WEIR  MITCHELL. 

The  debate,  which  had  commenced  on  the  I3th  of 
January,  was  protracted  to  the  3rd  of  February, 
when  the  question  being  taken  on  the  first  resolution, 
it  was  carried,  etc.  —  IRVING. 

Immediately  after  the  appointment  .  .  .  despatches 
were  sent  to  Mr.  Monroe,  communicating  complaints 
which  had  been  addressed  to  him,  against  the  Amer- 
ican government  by  Mr.  De  la  Croix,  etc.  —  IRVING  . 

In  these  examples,  the  sense  absolutely  requires 
commas  after  "charity,"  "when,"  and  "govern- 
ment," respectively. 

Sometimes  commas  are  used  by  the  best  writers 
to  set  off  parenthetical  clauses  for  which  dashes 
or  parentheses  would  seem,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other, more  appropriate.  In  these  examples,  the 
commas  after  "said"  and  "it"  in  the  first,  and 
after  "purpose"  and  "future"  in  the  second, 
might  well  be  replaced  by  dashes. 

Two  or  three  Irish  members  came  in  much  excite- 
ment to  my  table  to  know  if  the  story  of  the  letter  was 


1 12  PUNCTUATION 

true,  and,  above  all,  if  Mr.  Gladstone  had  really  said, 
and  really  meant  it,  that  he  would  withdraw  from  the 
leadership.  —  MORLEY. 

It  is  of  the  last  importance  that  English  criticism 
should  clearly  discern  what  rules  for  its  purpose,  in 
order  to  avail  itself  of  the  field  now  opening  to  it,  and 
to  produce  fruit  for  the  future,  it  ought  to  take.  — 
ARNOLD. 

This  rule  is  violated  most  commonly  —  notably 
by  "that  dignified  class  of  writers  which  is  sup- 
posed to,  and  in  most  respects  does,  insist  on  full 
logical  stopping"  * —  where  the  conjunction  that 
is  followed  by  a  parenthetical  or  modifying  clause. 

The  usual  mistake  consists,  either  in  omitting 
the  comma  after  that,  while  one  is  placed  at  the 
end  of  the  interpolated  clause;  as  in 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Kent  Chess  Association  he 
[Archbishop  Davidson]  remarked  that  though  he  was 
not  a  brilliant  player,  he  could  claim  to  represent  all 
the  pieces  except  the  pawn.  —  A.  G.  GARDINER. 

I  told  him  that  from  the  Irish  point  of  view,  anything 
was  better  than  Irish  Nationalists  divided. —  MORLEY. 

or  in  placing  the  comma  before,  instead  of  after, 
that. 

The  chief  criticism  was,  that  having  been  the  first  to 
suggest  the  scheme,  he  had  taken  no  steps  to  follow  up 
his  suggestion. 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  249.  The  members  of  this  class  of 
writers  who  are  there  brought  to  book  are  Professor  Huxley, 
John  Richard  Green,  Mr.  Balfour,  and  George  Borrow. 


THE  COMMA  113 

In  some  cases  the  conjunction  that  is  omitted 
and  its  place  taken  by  a  comma,  as  in 

A  learned  physician  tells  us,  the  fact  is  invariable 
with  the  Neapolitans,  etc.  —  EMERSON.1 

15.  The  use  or  omission  of  a  comma  before  a 
relative  clause  depends,  generally  speaking,  upon 
the  question  whether  the  clause  is  non-defining  or 
defining.  ' '  The  function  of  the  '  defining '  relative 
clause  is  to  limit  the  application  of  the  antece- 
dent."2 The  sense  in  such  cases  is  best  conveyed 
by  making  no  pause  after  the  antecedent ;  conse- 
quently no  comma  is  required. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  word  "defining" 
as  here  used  has  no  reference  to  what  we  ordinar- 
ily understand  by  "definition";  as  in  the  follow- 
ing sentence  from  Professor  Huxley,  the  clause  in 
which  he  defines  "protoplasm"  is  a  non-defining 
clause  from  our  present  standpoint. 

In  order  to  make  the  title  of  this  discourse  generally 
intelligible,  I  have  translated  the  term  "protoplasm," 
which  is  the  scientific  name  of  the  substance  of  which 
I  am  speaking,  by  the  words  the  physical  basis  of  life. 

"A  non-defining  clause  gives  independent  com- 
ment, description,  explanation,  anything  but  limi- 
tation of  the  antecedent ;  it  can  always  be  rewritten, 

1  See  p.  259  infra,  for  a  further  reference  to  this  subject. 

2  The  King's  English,  pp.  75,  76.     Mr.  Summey  uses  the  terms 
"restrictive"  and  "non-restrictive"  in  much  the  same  sense.  See 
Modern  Punctuation,  p.  86. 

9 


ii4  PUNCTUATION 

either  as  a  parenthesis  or  as  a  separate  sentence ; 
and  this  is  true,  however  essential  the  clause  may 
be  to  the  point  of  the  main  statement."  With 
non-defining  clauses,  a  comma  is  required  both 
before  and  after. 

To  determine  to  which  category  any  particular 
clause  belongs,  a  sure  test  in  almost  all  cases  is  to 
remove  it  bodily  and  see  if  the  sentence  makes 
sense  without  it;  if  it  does,  the  clause  is  non-defin- 
ing ;  if  not,  it  is  defining. 

This  simple  and  easily  applied  test  is  really  of 
immense  value.  We  shall  see  later  that  the  same 
distinction  furnishes,  in  many  cases,  a  useful  guide 
in  choosing  between  that  and  "which  as  relatives.1 

In  the  four  examples  that  follow,  the  relative 
clauses  are  defining.  In  the  first  three  the  comma 
is  rightly  omitted  before  the  relative  pronoun ;  and 
for  that  reason  it  should  be  omitted  in  the  second 
and  third  at  the  end  of  the  relative  clause,  to 
avoid  the  separation  of  verb  and  subject.  In  the 
example  from  Ruskin  some  complication  arises 
from  the  single  dash,  which  should  have  a  mate 
after  "lightness" ;  as  it  stands,  the  comma  before 
this  second  defining  clause  is  necessary  to  show 
that  Brightness"  is  not  the  antecedent. 

I  have  never  seen  a  man  who  looked  less  harassed, 
less  tired  and  apathetic,  more  at  ease  with  himself  and 
the  world.  —  A.  G.  GARDINER. 

1  See  pp.  216-25  infra. 


THE  COMMA  115 

And.  .  .  I  have  found  that  every  detail  which  exactly 
matches  my  previous  illusion  of  what  Chiswick  must 
and  would  be  like,  is  either  a  spurious  imitation,  etc. 

And  this  wide  separation  of  those  who  died  in  one 
place  and  by  one  death,  was  constant,  and  a  pitiable 
feature  of  the  tragedy. —  C.  READE. 

There  are  two  passages  of  that  poet  who  is  distin- 
guished, it  seems  to  me,  from  all  others  —  not  by 
power,  but  by  exquisite  Tightness,  which  point  you  to 
the  source  ...  of  womanly  beauty.  —  RUSKIN. 

The  following  passage  has  two  defining  clauses, 
therefore  no  commas;  but  the  same  relative 
should  be  used  in  both  places. 

This  is  the  attitude  that  has  called  forth  an  honest 
payment  of  federal  income  taxes  by  a  nation  which  is 
justly  notorious  for  its  evasion  of  state  and  municipal 
taxation. 

The  first  of  the  next  examples  has  one  defining 
and  one  non-defining  clause.  In  the  other  two 
the  relative  clauses  are  both  non-defining. 

It  is  a  spirit  that  contrasts  strikingly  with  the  spirit 
of  France,  which,  now  as  ever,  bears  the  banner  of 
civilization.  —  A.  G.  GARDINER. 

Anne,  who  had  no  will  but  that  of  the  Churchills,  had 
been  induced  by  them  to  notify  under  her  own  hand  to 
William,  a  week  before,  her  approbation  of  the  enter- 
prise. —  MACAULAY. 

There  is  an  indescribable  fascination  and  triumph  in 
sharing  a  secret  with  the  wild-folk,  which  can  be  under- 
stood only  by  the  initiate. 


ii6  PUNCTUATION 

There  are  many  varieties  of  modifying  clause 
other  than  relative,  which  fall  readily  into  the 
same  categories  of  defining  and  non-defining.  Of 
these,  however,  a  very  large  proportion  can  easily 
be  changed  into  the  relative  form.  The  same  rule 
as  to  the  use  or  non-use  of  commas  applies  with 
equal  force  to  all. 

The  incident  revealed  the  true  workings  of  a  type  of 
mind  so  remote  from  the  thought  of  our  day  as  to  be 
well-nigh  incredible.  —  A.  G.  GARDINER. 

The  clause  beginning  "so  remote"  is  a  defining 
clause;  hence  no  comma;  equivalent  to,  "which  is 
so  remote,"  etc. 

If  Mr.  Chaplin  ever  reads  Carlyle,  how  his  heart 
must  be  stirred  by  that  moving  passage  [just  quoted], 
probably  the  only  one  in  all  that  turgid  torrent  that 
would  be  quite  clear  to  his  simple  faith.  —  A.  G. 
GARDINER. 

The  clause  beginning  "probably"  is  non-defin- 
ing—  equivalent  to  "which  is  probably."  The 
clause  beginning  "  that  would  "  is  a  defining  clause 
in  relative  form. 

The  most  important  reason  for  consistency  in 
omitting  the  comma  before  a  defining  clause  and 
inserting  it  before  a  non-defining  one  is  that  the 
meaning  is  often  made  clear  thereby.  To  take  a 
simple  example :  — 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  committee,  which  was 
held  yesterday,  the  chairman  announced,  etc. 


THE  COMMA  117 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  committee  that  was  held 
yesterday,  the  chairman  announced,  etc. 

In  the  first  sentence  the  meeting  referred  to  is 
the  first  of  all  the  meetings  of  the  society,  the  rela- 
tive clause  being  simply  explanatory,  that  is,  non- 
defining.  In  the  second  sentence,  by  the  omission 
of  the  comma  the  relative  clause  is  made  to  define 
the  meeting  as  the  first  of  several  that  were  held 
yesterday,  without  regard  to  whether  others  had 
been  held  before  yesterday.1 

One  Charles  Erhart .  .  .  had  beaten  his  wife  .  .  .  and 
was  entrenched  in  the  house  with  the  black  flag  flying. 

Without  a  comma  after  "house,"  the  conclud- 
ing words  define  the  house  as  the  one  where  the 
black  flag  was  flying.  If  a  comma  is  inserted,  as  it 
should  be,  the  meaning  is  that  he  had  entrenched 
himself  in  the  house  (presumably  that  in  which  he 
lived),  and  had  (figuratively)  hoisted  the  black 
flag;  for  there  was,  in  fact,  no  such  flag. 

1 6.  A  comma  is  often  used  to  indicate  the 
omission  of  a  word  or  words  occurring  earlier  in 
the  sentence. 

1  This  distinction  is  recognized  inferentially,  but  not  in  terms, 
in  the  Manual  of  Style  issued  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Press, 
where  the  following  is  given  as  one  of  many  illustrations  of  this 
rule,  taken  from  the  Century  Dictionary:  "The  comma  is  'used  to 
indicate  the  smallest  interruptions  in  continuity  of  thought  or 
grammatical  construction,  the  marking  of  which  contributes  to 
clearness.'  'The  books  which  I  have  read  I  herewith  return' 
(i.e.,  I  return  those  only  which  I  have  read);  but:  'The  books, 
which  I  have  read,  I  herewith  return'  (i.e.,  having  read  them  all, 
I  now  return  them)." 


ii8  PUNCTUATION 

He  had  done  something  disgraceful,  my  dear.  What, 
was  not  precisely  known.  —  R.  L.  STEVENSON. 

Ben  Jonson  was  born  about  1575  —  where,  is  not 
known  with  certainty.1 

To  Anoano  and  No  Food  we  gave  a  silk  handker- 
chief each;  to  Amani,  a  pair  of  white  canvas  shoes;  to 
Tamarua,  an  assortment  of  fishing  tackle.  —  C.  B. 
NORDHOFF. 

17.  There  is  a  class  of  cases  in  which  the  final 
word  or  phrase  of  a  sentence  has,  standing  in  the 
same  grammatical  relation  to  it,  two  or  more  words 
or  phrases  only  one  of  which  is  in  direct  connection 
with  it.  There  are  so  many  possible  variations  of 
this  sort  of  thing  that  several  examples  are  given, 
in  which  the  commas  concerned  are  either  printed 
in  heavy  type,  or  —  when  they  do  not  occur  in 
the  original  —  set  in  brackets. 

(a)  We  English,  had  we  loved  Switzerland,  should 
have  striven  to  elevate,  but  not  to  disturb,  the  sim- 
plicity of  her  people.  —  RUSKIN. 

(6)  Let  us  turn  to  one  other,  and,  for  this  purpose, 
fina!9  matter  for  post-mortem  consideration. 

(c)  His  mother  was  of  gentle  blood :  Scots-Jacobite 
Keith  on  her  father's,  Randolph  of  Turkey  Island  on 
her  mother's,  side. 

(d)  All  the  great  lawyers  of  the  Revolutionary,  and 
most  of  those  of  the  Federalist,  period,  were  trained, 
etc. 

1  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  different  punctuation  of  the  two 
main  sentences  here,  the  construction  being  apparently  the  same 
in  both.  The  period  after  "  my  dear  "  seems  less  suited  to  the 
occasion  than  the  dash  in  the  second  example. 


THE  COMMA  119 

(e)  Many  states  are  in  alliance  with,  and  under  the 
protection  of,  France. 

(/)  To  dazzle  people  more,  he  learned,  or  pretended 
to  learn,  the  Spanish  language. 

(g)  Apart  from  philosophical  and  sometimes  from 
theological,  studies. 

(h)  John  Marshall  inherited  a  taste  for  good  litera- 
ture, but  was  never  in  any  sense  a  bookish,  or  even,  in 
the  usual  sense  [,]  a  cultured  man. 

(i)  That  indeed  gave  new  life  to  the  reverence  which 
was  becoming,  or  was  closely  allied  with  all  that  was 
becoming,  a  living  principle  in  my  character. 

(/)  It  must  have  seemed  to  him  that  the  examina- 
tion of  processes  in  the  living  body  .  .  .  was  closely 
related,  or  at  any  rate  that  it  might  be  related  [,]  in 
an  enlightening  way,  to  the  philosophic  pursuits  that 
were  beginning  to  invite  him. 

(k)  .  .  .  using  the  latter  word  to  signify  one  whose 
philosophy  authenticates,  by  guaranteeing  the  objec- 
tive significance  of,  his  most  pleasurable  feelings. 

(0  I  have  at  last  "struck  it  rich"  here  in  North 
Carolina,  and  am  in  the  most  peculiar,  and  one  of  the 
most  poetic  [,]  places  I  have  ever  been  in.1 

(m)  I  am  more  different  kinds  of  an  ass,  or  rather  I 
am  (without  ceasing  to  be  different  kinds)  the  same 
kind  more  often,  than  any  living  man.2 

1  As  to  the  grammar  in  example  (/),  see  page  232  infra,  under 
the  heading  "  Common  Parts." 

2  In  sections  152  and  153  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Manual 
of  Style  are  two  rules  which  include  a  certain  proportion  of  the  cases 
under  consideration,  but  do  not,  to  the  writer,  seem  exhaustive. 


120  PUNCTUATION 

The  question  is  as  to  the  use  or  non-use  of  com- 
mas between  the-last  of  these  "coordinate"  words 
or  phrases  and  the  final  word  or  phrase  to  which 
they  are  related.  The  authors  of  "The  King's 
English ' '  say  that  the  comma  should  never  be  used 
if  it  is  omitted  after  the  earlier  word  or  phrase; 
that  it  may  often  be  dispensed  with,  even  when 
the  first  one  is  necessary;  and  that  both  may  be 
necessary  if  the  phrases  are  long. 

"  Learners  will  be  inclined  to  say:  all  this  is  very 
indefinite ;  do  give  us  a  clear  rule  that  will  apply 
to  all  cases.  Such  was  the  view  with  which,  on  a 
matter  of  even  greater  importance  than  punctua- 
tion, Procrustes  identified  himself;  but  it  brought 
him  to  a  bad  end.  The  clear  rule,  Use  all  logical 
connectives,  would  give  us :  — 

"He  was  born,  in,  or  near,  London,  on  December 
24th,  1900. 

"  No  one  would  write  this  who  was  not  suffering 
from  bad  hypertrophy  of  the  grammatical  con- 
science. The  clear  rule,  Use  no  commas  in  this 
sort  of  enumeration,  would  give:  — 

"  If  I  have  the  queer  ways  you  accuse  me  of,  that  is 
because  but  I  should  have  thought  a  man  of  your  per- 
spicacity might  have  been  expected  to  see  that  it  was 
also  why  I  live  in  a  hermitage  all  by  myself. 

"  No  one  would  write  this  without  both  commas 
(after  '  because '  and  '  why ')  who  was  not  deeply 


THE  COMMA  121 

committed  to  an  anti-comma  crusade.  Between 
the  two  extremes  lie  cases  calling  for  various 
treatment ;  the  ruling  principle  should  be  freedom 
within  certain  limits." 

Whereupon,  perhaps,  the  learner  may  repeat, 
with  greater  reason:  "all  this  is  very  indefinite." 

Applying  the  principles  quoted  from  Messrs. 
Fowler  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  we  should  say  that 
in  (b),  (c),  (e),  (/),  the  second  comma  is  not 
needed  (it  is  found  in  some  of  them  and  omitted 
in  some);  that  in  (a)  and  (/)  both  commas  are 
necessary,  if  either  is  used  (else  the  first  verb  is 
separated  from  its  object);  that  in  (d],  the  com- 
mas after ' '  Revolutionary ' '  and ' '  Federalist ' '  both 
"belong,"  but  the  one  after  "period"  is  clearly 
wrong;  that  in  (g),  no  commas  are  necessary  — 
certainly  not  the  single  one,  in  its  present  position ; 
that  in  (A),  (t),  (f),  (k),  (m),  both  commas  are 
required. 

1 8.  The  comma  is  never  used  with  a  single 
dash.1 

In  parenthetical  clauses  set  off  by  dashes,  it  is 
used  before  each  dash  if  it  would  be  required  at 
the  break  if  the  parenthetical  clause  were  omitted 
—  otherwise,  with  neither.2 

The  second  carries  us  from  1625  to  1714, —  less 
than  a  century,  —  yet  the  walls  of  the  big  hall,  etc.  — 
J.  R.  LOWELL. 

1  See  p.  131  infra.  a  See  pp.  135,  136  infra. 


122  PUNCTUATION 

I  know  Adam  Bede  well,  —  I  know  what  he  is  as  a 
workman,  and  what  he  has  been  as  a  son  and  brother, 
—  and  I  am  saying  the  simplest  truth.  —  GEORGE 
ELIOT. 

Garnet  cites  the  case  of  a  girl  near  Amiens  possessed 
by  three  demons  [,]  —  Mimi,  Zozo,  and  Carapoulet,  — 
in  1876.  —  J.  R.  LOWELL. 

The  fathers  and  founders  of  the  Commonwealth  — 
the  statesman,  the  priest,  and  the  soldier  —  deemed  it 
a  duty  then  to  assume,  etc.  —  HAWTHORNE. 

Among  his  many  idiosyncrasies  of  punctuation, 
Dickens  had  a  way  of  using  a  dash  where  almost 
anybody  else  would  have  used  a  comma. 

"  Nay,"  said  the  eloquent  Pickwickian  —  "I  know  it 
but  too  well." 

19.  The  comma  is  never  used  before  parenthe- 
ses, and  follows  the  closing  parenthesis  only  when 
it  would  be  required  if  the  parenthetical  clause 
were  omitted. 

The  annual  expenditure  for  public  purposes  (a  third 
of  it  for  military  purposes) ,  is  at  least  50  millions.  — 
RUSKIN. 

Probably  Ruskin's  fellow  countrymen  would  be 
willing  to  forgive  the  superfluous  comma,  if  the 
figures  from  which  he  recoiled  two  generations 
ago — "Sesame  and  Lilies"  was  published  in 
1864  —  accurately  represented  the  national  outgo 
to-day. 


THE  COMMA  123 

The  almost  universal  style  of  punctuation  with 
parentheses  until  comparatively  recent  times  was 
to  put  a  comma  before  the  first  parenthesis  and 
another  at  the  end  of  the  clause,  inside  the  second. 
There  was  certainly  no  logic  behind  the  custom, 
and  it  has  been  generally,  though  not  altogether, 
abandoned. 

20.  A  comma  must  always  be  used  between 
two  sets  of  figures. 

Of  the  total  casualties  of  5283,  1472  are  reported  as 
killed,  etc.,  June  27,  1920. 

When  he  was  no  more  than  25,  150  more  men  were 
put  in  his  charge. 

Also  between  the  names  of  different  persons, 
when  its  omission  would  mislead  or  cause  am- 
biguity. 

In  his  relations  with  Mary,  Smith  had  never  got  be- 
yond a  certain  stage. 

21.  A  few  formal  uses  of  this  point  may  be  no- 
ticed, in  addition  to  those  mentioned  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  section. 

In  the  "Atlantic,"  before  direct  quotations  in- 
troduced by  said,  replied,  asked,  and  similar  words, 
whether  or  not  the  quoted  matter  begins  a  new 
paragraph.  In  the  latter  case,  it  is  followed  by  a 
dash.  In  Atlantic  books  the  comma  is  used  only 
before  short  quotations  that  do  not  begin  a  new 
paragraph. 


124  PUNCTUATION 

Of  a  study  we  are  to  ask,  "  Does  it  contribute  to  tne 
doing  of  these  things?"  rather  than,  "Does  the  study 
make  the  child's  mind  more  alert  or  sound  or  sane?" 

Again,  in  the  "Atlantic,"  the  salutation  of  a  let- 
ter is  followed  by  comma  and  dash,  on  a  separate 
line. 

This  tedious  and  protracted  discussion,  felt  to  be 
inadequate,  of  this  vexed  subject,  may  be  closed 
by  quoting  some  sentences  which  seem  to  show 
the  futility  of  attempting  to  make  rules  to  fit, 
even  theoretically,  all  cases.  The  first  two  have 
been  "put  up"  to  the  writer  in  recent  "Atlantic" 
papers. 

On  some  occasions  we  can  best  deal  with  ourselves 
from  within  out,  on  others  from  without  in. 

Through  an  unconscious  application  of  Cook 
Comma's  formula,1  the  sentence  was  punctuated 
thus:  "from  within,  out;  on  others,  from  without, 
in." 

Or  must  the  horrid  struggle  of  those  who  have  not, 
to  get,  and  of  those  who  have,  to  keep,  go  on  forever? 

The  following  is  printed  just  as  it  stands  in  the 
second  edition  of  "Sesame  and  Lilies":  — 

.  .  .  but  how  few  kings  have  ever  laid  up  treasures 
that  needed  no  guarding  —  treasures  of  which,  the 
more  thieves  there  were,  the  better." 

1  See  p.  59  supra. 


THE  DASH  125 

The  Dash 

There  are  three  forms  of  the  dash  in  common 
use  —  the  "en,"  the  "em,"  and  the  "2-em,"  in 
the  order  of  length.  The  em-dash  alone  is  to  be 
considered  as  a  true  punctuation  mark.  It  is  here- 
after called  the  dash.  The  others  can  be  dismissed 
in  a  very  few  words. 

THE  EN-DASH 

The  en-dash,  which  is  half  the  length  of  the  em- 
dash,  may  stand  for  the  word  "and"  or  "to"  in 
such  phrases  as  "the  Radical-Unionist  Coalition," 
"the  Boston-Hartford  Air  Line"  j1  "  the  period  of 
Republican  supremacy,  1860-84";  "pp.  224-30." 
It  is  necessary  to  be  on  one's  guard  against  the 
use  of  the  en-dash  instead  of  "to,"  in  connection 
with  "from"  —  a  surprisingly  common  error. 

The  Civil  War  lasted  from  i86i-'65. 

This  dash  is  used  also  instead  of  a  hyphen  in 
lines  consisting  of  capital  letters. 

THE  2-EM  DASH 

The  2-em  dash,  sufficiently  described  by  its 
name,  has  no  other  use  in  ordinary  book-printing 

i  When  one  of  the  names  in  such  a  combination  consists  of  two 
words,  the  use  of  the  en-dash  creates  an  awkwardness  which  it  is 
better  to  avoid  by  using  "and"  or  "to"  instead.  For  instance, 
"the  New  York-Boston  express"  suggests  a  close  connection  be- 
tween "York  and  Boston,"  but  leaves  "New"  out  in  the  cold. 
The  "  New  York  to  (and)  Boston  express"  is  preferable. 


126  PUNCTUATION 

than  to  represent  a  name  not  given,  or  the  omitted 
letters  of  a  name  of  which  only  the  first  letter,  or 
the  first  and  last  letters,  are  given. 

I  met  Mrs.  S ,  on  her  way  to  B . 

It  is  possible  that  I  may  see  R n  to-day;  if  so,  I 

will  tell  him  that  you  are  expecting  him  and  J 

F to  see  him  soon,  to  try  to  settle  that  old  matter. 

I  must  tell  you  that  J writes  me  that  he  is  sure 

that  he  has  discovered  the  culprit,  which  is  all  you 
need  to  know,  so  that  I  will  say  simply  that  it  is  no  less 
a  person  than .  It  is  so  necessary  to  preserve  en- 
tire secrecy  for  the  moment  that  I  dare  not  write  even 
the  initial  —  even  in  a  private  letter. 

This  long  dash  is  sometimes  encountered  where 
one  would  expect  to  find  the  ordinary  dash ;  but 
the  writer  has  never  been  able  to  discover  any 
principle  upon  which  such  use  is  based,  or  any 
reason  to  refer  the  practice  —  in  modern  works, 
at  least  —  to  anything  but  indifference. 

"Next  to  my  wife,  Diana  Warwick's She'd 

send,  never  fear."  —  MEREDITH. 

"Now,  Charley  dear,"  Peggy  says,  very  seriously, 
"listen  to  what  I  have  to  say " 

"I'm  listening." 

"Very  well  then.  What  I  have  to  say  is  this  —  Yes. 
Sit  still  like  that,  and  I'll  ruffle  your  hair.  That's 
right.  Now  about  Miss  Straker " 

"Fire  away!" 

"If  you  can  look  me  straight  in  the  face,  and  say, 
really  and  truly  I  need  n't  be  uneasy  about  you  and 
her " 


THE  DASH  127 

"Of  course  I  can  say  that.  Really  and  truly  you 
need  n't  be  uneasy .  —  DE  MORGAN. 

One  would  be  inclined  to  say,  perhaps,  that  Mr. 
De  Morgan,  in  this  passage,  reveals  a  purpose  to 
use  the  long  dash  at  the  end  of  a  sentence  in  con- 
versation if  it  is  in  form  or  in  thought  incomplete. 
But  on  the  preceding  page  of  "Alice-for-Short," 
we  find :  — 

"Because  if  this  dear  goose  of  a  boy  is  going  to  sit 
listening  to  her  by  the  hour  together  .  .  .  "; 

and  two  or  three  pages  beyond  — 

"I  know,  Father,"  said  he,  "that  what  you  wanted 
to  know  about  was  —  " 

The  distinction  is  too  subtle  for  the  ordinary 
reader,  who  would,  it  seems  to  us,  be  quite  as  well 
enlightened  as  to  the  author's  meaning,  and  quite 
as  full  of  admiration  for  his  genius,  if  the  single 
dash  had  been  consistently  used  in  these  and  all 
similar  cases. 

THE  DASH  PROPER,  OR  EM-DASH 

I.  The  dash  has  these  formal  uses:  (a)  With  a 
comma  or  colon  introducing  quoted  matter,  when 
such  matter  begins  a  new  paragraph,  (b)  With  a 
colon,  before  any  other  matter  properly  introduced 
by  that  mark,  when  it  begins  a  new  paragraph. 
(In  Atlantic  usage,  it  is  not  used,  in  this  connec- 
tion, in  the  middle  of  a  paragraph.)  (c)  In  the 


128  PUNCTUATION 

"Atlantic"  with  a  comma,  and  in  Atlantic  books 
with  a  colon,  after  the  salutation  of  a  letter. 
(d)  Before  words  (whether  the  name  of  a  person, 
or  the  title  of  a  book,  or  both)  indicating  the 
source  of  a  quotation. 

II.  The  other  than  formal  uses  of  the  single 
dash  are:  — 

I.  To  mark  an  abrupt  change  of  construction, 
or  of  thought,  especially  when  a  sentence  is  left 
unfinished.1 

I  declined  to  apply  for  it.  I  thought  —  But,  Mr. 
Red  worth,  another  thing  concerning  us  all:  I  want, 
etc.  —  MEREDITH. 

The  white  lock,  whether  he  came  by  it  by  inherit- 
ance or  by  accident  —  what  an  ensign  it  was  to  blaze 
out  the  coming  of  the  master!  —  G.  BRADFORD. 

Philammon,  my  son!  and  art  thou  too  in  league 
against  —  no,  not  against  me ;  against  thyself,  poor 
misguided  boy?  —  C.  KINGSLEY. 

There  was  n't  another  like  her  in  the  world,  and  it 
would  never  do  if  —  But  the  if 's  were  too  hideous  to 
contemplate,  and  Charles  brushed  them  aside,  etc.  — 
DE  MORGAN. 

A  succession  of  dashes  may  indicate  a  broken  or 
disjointed  line  of  thought,  or  a  speech  broken  by 
emotion  of  one  sort  or  another. 

It  was  a  suggestion  —  not  definite  —  nothing  stip- 
ulated. —  MEREDITH. 

i  This  would  seem  to  be  broad  enough  to  include  Messrs.  Fow- 
lers' "confessing  an  anacoluthon,  or  substituting  a  new  construc- 
tion for  the  one  started  with."  See  The  King's  English,  p.  268. 


THE  DASH  129 

Thanks  be  to  God!  But  Philammon,  if  thou  hadst 
had  a  sister  —  hush !  And  if  —  I  only  say  if  —  . 

—  C.  KINGSLEY. 

But  to  his  astonishment,  instead  of  the  burst  of  big- 
oted indignation,  which  he  had  expected,  Miriam  an- 
swered in  a  low,  confused,  abstracted  voice,  — 

"And  did  he  send  you  hither?  Well  —  that  was 
more  like  what  I  used  to  fancy  him.  —  A  grand  thought 
it  is  after  all  — •  a  Jew  the  king  of  heaven  and  earth !  — 
Well  —  I  shall  know  soon  —  I  loved  him  once  —  and 
perhaps  —  perhaps  —  ."  —  C.  KINGSLEY. 

A  somewhat  similar  use  is  to  indicate  hesitation. 

"Are  they  laughing  because  people  do  dance  that 
way,  or  because  they  don't?" 

"Because  they  don't  —  I  think,"  my  companion  re- 
plied. 

"  I  had  —  I  had  not  a  suspicion  of  doing  harm,  Percy." 

—  MEREDITH.1 

2.  To  introduce  a  summing  up  or  explana- 
tion of,  or  a  "preferable  substitute "  for,  what  has 
gone  before;  or  to  mark  arrival  at  the  principal 
sentence  after  a  long  or  confused  subordinate 
clause. 

What  does  a  man  whose  licentiousness  controls  his 
thoughts,  and  who  knows  it  to  be  most  odious  in  the 

1  It  should  be  said  that  in  these  quotations  from  Meredith 
(Diana  of  the  Crossways)  and  Charles  Kingsley  (Hypatia),  the 
dashes  in  the  text  represent  a  confusing  mixture,  in  the  original, 
of  dashes  and  ellipsis  points  (of  the  latter  sometimes  three  and 
sometimes  four)  to  which  it  is  difficult  to  attribute  any  distinctive 
meaning. 

10 


130  PUNCTUATION 

divine  sight  —  what  does  he  say  to  God  when  he 
speaks  of  it  to  him? 

To  have  faith  in  creation  as  it  expresses  itself  in 
the  instinctive  demand  of  youth  for  education ;  to  sit 
at  the  feet  of  childhood  and  to  learn  its  ways;  to  use 
to  the  utmost,  and  to  direct  wisely,  its  resources  of 
interest  and  desire  —  this  is  educational  wisdom. 

My  poor  girl  writes  of  the  hatefulness  of  having  to 
act  the  complacent  —  put  on  her  accustomed  self.  — 
MEREDITH. 

Never  to  have  come  into  contact  with  realities,  never 
to  have  felt  the  pulse  of  things  —  that  is  what  is  wrong 
with  Rosebery.  —  A.  G.  GARDINER. 

The  habit  of  snake  and  spider,  the  snap  of  the  tiger 
and  other  leapers  and  bloody  jumpers,  the  crackle  of 
the  bones  of  his  prey  in  the  coil  of  the  anaconda  — 
these  are  in  the  system,  and  our  habits  are  likejiheirs. 
—  EMERSON. 

Is  it  just  to  construe  the  few  world-view  sentences  of 
Jesus,  not  written  by  himself,  written  a  generation 
after  his  death  by  those  to  whom  these  views  were  the 
colored  medium  through  which  they  read  all  serious 
words  upon  man's  destiny  —  is  it  just  to  put  a  meaning 
upon  these  sentences,  etc.  —  G.  A.  GORDON. 

3.  For  emphasis.1 

The  boys  in  the  back  are  reduced  immediately  to 
graven  images,  with  straining  eyes  and  ears,  all  en- 

1  "  Inviting  the  reader  to  pause  and  collect  his  forces  against  the 
shock  of  an  unexpected  word  that  is  to  close  the  sentence.  It  is 
generally,  but  not  always,  better  to  abstain  from  this  device;  the 
unexpected,  if  not  drawn  attention  to,  is  often  more  effective  be- 
cause less  theatrical."  —  The  King's  English,  p.  267. 


THE  DASH  131 

meshed  in  that  finely  woven  fabric  called  —  Litera- 
ture. —  E.  YEOMANS. 

He  differs  from  the  Heathen  poet  chiefly  in  this  — 
that  he  recognizes,  for  deliverance,  no  gods  nigh  at 
hand ;  and  that,  by  petty  chance  —  by  momentary 
folly  —  by  broken  messages  —  by  fool's  tyranny  — •  or 
traitor's  snare,  the  strongest  and  most  righteous  are 
brought  to  their  ruin.  — •  RUSKIN. 

4.  To  introduce  a  list,  or  enumeration  (here 
almost  interchangeable  with  the  colon). 

Everything,  naturally,  is  made  to  depend  upon  the 
action  of  the  five  leading  powers  —  [or :]  Great  Britain, 
France,  Italy,  Japan,  and  the  United  States. 

Well,  there  is  no  accounting  for  the  different  roads 
that  men  take  in  their  search  after  happiness  —  some 
keep  the  high  road ;  some  take  short  cuts;  others  strike 
out  new  paths  for  themselves;  and  others,  again,  per- 
mit themselves  to  be  led  on  without  asking  the  road.  — 
Adventures  of  Hajji  Baba,  Morier's  translation. 

Some  writers  always  use  a  comma  with  a  single 
dash;  some  use  it  sometimes  and  omit  it  some- 
times, alleging  fine-drawn  shades  of  difference  be- 
tween the  two  cases.  So  far  as  the  writer  has  had 
experience  with  those  of  the  latter  class,  it  is  al- 
most just  to  say  guot  homines,  tot  sentential.  As  it 
is  impossible  to  supply  the  reader  with  an  ex- 
planation of  the  author's  purpose  in  using  the 
"reinforced  dash"  (or  "reinforced  comma";  the 
terms  seem  to  be  practically  interchangeable), 


132  PUNCTUATION 

the  "Atlantic"  always  omits  the  comma  with  the 
single  dash. 

NOTE.  —  "Use  the  dash  .  .  .  after  a  comma,  to  increase 
the  separation  slightly,"  says  Mr.  Woolley  in  his  very  valu- 
able "  Handbook  of  Composition."  Can  anything  be  imagined 
more  vague  and  illusory  than  such  a  suggestion,  which  seems 
to  call  for  extending  Cook  Comma's  "periodic  rule"  to  infin- 
ity? "There  may  be  arbitrary  distinctions  between  the  dash 
and  the  reinforced  dash,  but  no  such  distinction  is  generally 
valid  or  clearly  understood,  except  for  a  supposed  difference  in 
strength,"  says  Mr.  Summey  ("Modern  Punctuation,"  page 
233).  But  is  not  the  characterization  of  the  difference  in 
strength  as  "supposed"  at  odds  with  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  distinction? 

"Is  the  dash  to  supersede  stops  at  the  place 
where  it  is  inserted,  or  to  be  added  to  them? 
.  .  .  Beadnell's  answer  ...  is:  'The  dash  does 
not  dispense  with  the  use  of  the  ordinary  points  at 
the  same  time,  when  the  grammatical  construc- 
tion of  the  sentence  requires  them.'  But  inasmuch 
as  a  dash  implies  some  sort  of  break,  irregular 
pause,  or  change  of  intention,  it  seems  quite  need- 
less to  insert  the  stop  that  would  have  been  used 
if  it  had  not  been  decided  that  a  stop  was  inade- 
quate. The  dash  is  a  confession  that  the  stop  will 
not  do;  then  let  the  stop  go."  1 

The  following  passage  from  "Sesame  and  Lil- 
ies" illustrates  Ruskin's  occasional  use  of  semi- 
colon and  dash  in  conjunction,  where  the  first 
would  ordinarily  be  thought  sufficient. 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  269. 


THE  DASH  133 

.  .  .  shall  abide  for  us  Faith,  no  more  to  be  assailed 
by  temptation,  no  more  to  be  defended  by  wrath  and 
by  fear;  —  shall  abide  with  us  Hope,  no  more  to  be 
quenched  by  the  years  that  overwhelm,  or  made 
ashamed  by  the  shadows  that  betray;  —  shall  abide 
for  us  and  with  us  the  greatest  of  these ;  [ :]  the  abiding 
will,  the  abiding  name  of  our  Father. 

III.  Dashes  in  pairs. 

Dashes  in  pairs  are  being  used  with  increasing 
frequency  to  set  off  parenthetical  clauses,  and  the 
choice  between  dashes  and  parentheses  in  any 
particular  case,  with  the  exception  noted  below, 
is  almost  wholly  a  matter  of  individual  taste. 
The  dashes  "furnish  a  medium  between  the  light 
comma  parentheses  and  the  heavy  bracket 
parentheses."1 

Mr.  Summey  is  able  to  suggest  no  better  guide 
for  making  a  choice  than :  "These  [curves]  are  less 
frequently  useful  than  commas  or  dashes  for 
clause  groups,  but  sometimes  are  useful.  .  .  . 
Neither  curves  nor  the  other  points  are  restricted 
to  any  particular  type  of  parenthetical  clause. 
Subordinate  clauses  or  independent  parenthetical 
clauses  with  or  without  conjunctions  may  be  set 
off  by  commas,  dashes,  or  curves.  The  more 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  269.  Messrs.  Fowler  use  the  term 
"bracket"  to  avoid  the  confusion  between  the  common  name  of 
the  curved  symbols  enclosing  a  parenthetical  clause  and  the 
clause  itself;  and  Mr.  Summey  uses  "curves"  to  the  same  end. 
But  "bracket"  is  the  name  ordinarily  applied  to  the  square  sym- 
bols [  ],  which  have  a  wholly  distinct  use.  See  p.  145  infra. 


134  PUNCTUATION 

nearly  a  part  of  the  main  structure,  the  less 
likely  is  a  parenthesis  to  be  set  off  with  commas; 
the  more  distinctly  apart  from  the  main  structure, 
the  more  likely  to  be  set  off  with  commas.  But  a 
general  rule  would  be  a  delusion." 1 

As  has  been  said  already,  in  the  "Atlantic"  the 
choice  between  these  alternatives  is  influenced 
more  or  less  by  the  exigencies  of  spacing  and  syl- 
labification ;  and  these  authorities  seem  to  afford 
abundant  justification  of  such  eclecticism.  Care 
must  be  taken,  however,  to  guard  against  the  ten- 
dency of  some  authors  to  use  dashes  where  the 
connection  in  thought  between  the  parenthetical 
clause  and  the  main  clause  is  so  close  that  it  would 
be  annoyingly  broken  by  any  points  stronger  than 
commas;  as  in  the  first  of  these  arrangements  of 
virtually  the  same  sentence. 

The  fog,  which  had  been  so  dense  as  to  shut  off  all 
view  of  the  land  for  three  days,  finally  cleared. 

But 

The  fog  —  it  had  been  so  dense  as  to  shut  off  ... 
for  three  days  —  finally  cleared. 

And  so 

The  preacher  announced  —  no,  sang  —  his  text. 

In  the  second  and  third  examples,  parentheses 
might  as  properly  have  been  used  as  dashes. 

1  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  112. 


THE  DASH  135 

Their  peculiar  glory  —  and  it  is  very  great  —  is  that 
they  demonstrated,  in  the  face  of  apparent  demonstra- 
tion to  the  contrary,  that  a  free  church  in  a  free  state, 
etc. 

The  last  example  well  illustrates  the  distinction 
pointed  out  above  between  clauses  which  should 
be  set  off  by  commas  only,  and  those  which,  as 
Mr.  Summey  expresses  it,  are  "more  distinctly 
apart  from  the  main  structure."  The  first  paren- 
thesis belongs  to  the  latter  category,  the  second 
to  the  other. 

He  ascribed  his  scrupulous  care  in  omitting  any  hint 
of  Miss  Straker  —  the  good  trying-on  figure  passed 
away  down  the  street  in  his  brain,  but  he  said  nothing 
about  it  —  entirely  to  the  fact  that  the  bill  before  the 
House  related  entirely  to  Peggy,  not  to  himself.  — 
DE  MORGAN.  i 

As  was  said  above,  in  connection  with  the  use  of 
the  comma,  that  point  is  not  used  with  either  of 
the  pair  of  dashes,  if  a  comma  would  not  be  re- 
quired in  the  absence  of  the  parenthetical  clause, 
as  in  all  the  preceding  examples.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  comma  should  be  placed  before  each  dash, 
if  it  would  be  required  were  the  parenthetical 
clause  omitted,  as  in  the  examples  that  follow. 

I  think,  my  dear  Charles,  —  but  I  know  I  shall  be 
set  aside,  —  I  should  have  a  right  to  be  told  when  Miss 
Straker  is  to  be  asked.  —  DE  MORGAN. 


136  PUNCTUATION 

Her  murmur  of  welcome,  her  questions  about  his 
journey,  her  mild  directions  as  she  led  him  up  to  his 
room,  —  "Be  careful  at  this  landing,  the  level  of  the 
floor  goes  up  and  the  beam  comes  down  low,"  —  were 
rather  those  of  a  shy  and  entirely  unprofessional  host- 
ess. —  A.  D.  SEDGWICK. 

All  the  same,  he  was  thankful  when  she  rescued  him 
from  the  woman  who  would  talk  to  him  idiotically 
about  his  poetry,  —  she  evidently  had  n't  understood 
a  word  of  it,  —  and  took  him  into  the  quiet  nook  near 
the  piano.  —  A.  D.  SEDGWICK. 

(This  clause  was  set  off  between  parentheses, 
not  dashes,  by  the  author,  and  affords  another 
excellent  example  of  their  interchangeability.) l 

The  distinction  is  well  illustrated  by  these 
examples,  from  Mr.  P.  E.  More ;  in  the  first,  the 
commas  should  have  been  used  in  conjunction 
with  the  dashes;  in  the  second,  they  are  rightly 
omitted. 

Again,  if  you  hear  a  man  talking  overmuch  of 
brotherly  love  and  that  sort  of  thing  —  I  do  not  mean 
the  hypocrite,  but  the  sincere  humanitarian  whom  you 
and  I  have  met  and  had  dealings  with  and  could  name 
—  if  you  hear  such  a  man  talking  overmuch  of  serving 
his  fellows,  you  are  pretty  sure  that  here  is  a  man  who 
will  be  slippery  or  dishonorable  in  his  personal  trans- 
actions. 

1  Seethe  section  on  "Parentheses"  (p.  143 infra)  for  the  reason 
for  the  practice,  long  since  adopted  in  the  Atlantic,  of  choosing 
those  marks  in  preference  to  dashes  when  the  parenthetical  pas- 
sage is  very  long  or  when  it  includes  a  full  stop. 


THE  DASH  137 

But  we  have  a  sure  monitor  of  the  will  to  act  right- 
eously in  the  present  feeling  of  happiness  or  misery,  and 
we  have  a  hope  —  a  divine  illusion  it  may  be,  for  it  has 
never  among  men  been  verified  by  experience  —  that 
in  some  way  and  at  some  time  happiness  and  pleasure 
shall  be  completely  reconciled  by  Nature. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the  occurrence  of 
other  dashes  in  the  same  sentence  may  make  it 
advisable  to  use  parentheses  to  enclose  a  paren- 
thetical clause.  In  the  following  passage  from 
Arnold's  "Function  of  Criticism,"  perhaps  they 
might  advantageously  be  substituted  for  the  first 
two  dashes.  But  it  is  a  close  question,  and  it 
seems  that  each  case  must  be  passed  upon  as  it 
arises. 

But  surely  the  one  thing  wanting  to  make  Words- 
worth an  even  greater  poet  than  he  is,  — •  his  thought 
richer,  and  his  influence  of  wider  application, — was 
that  he  should  have  read  more  books  —  among  them, 
no  doubt,  those  of  that  Goethe  whom  he  disparaged 
without  reading  him. 

In  "The  King's  English "  there  is  an  interesting 
discussion  of  the  question  how  far  the ' '  authority ' ' 
of  the  dash  extends.  It  is  far  outside  the  scope  of 
this  book,  and  we  can  allow  ourselves  room  for 
only  a  brief  quotation  from  it.  "There  is  no  reason 
in  the  nature  of  things  why  we  should  not  on  the 
one  hand  be  relieved  of  [authority]  at  the  next 
stop,  or  on  the  other  be  subject  to  it  till  the  para- 


138  PUNCTUATION 

graph  ends.   The  three  following  examples  seem 
to  go  on  the  first  hypothesis." 

The  first  of  the  three  examples,  with  the  au- 
thors' comment  on  it,  is:  — 

The  Moral  Nature,  that  Law  of  laws,  whose  reve- 
lations introduce  greatness  — •  yea,  God  himself,  unto 
the  open  soul,  is  not  explored.  —  EMERSON.  (Substi- 
tute a  dash  for  the  comma  after  "  himself."  Here,  how- 
ever, Emerson  expects  us  to  terminate  the  authority  at 
the  right  comma,  rather  than  at  the  first  that  comes, 
making  things  worse.) 

This  discussion  of  the  dash  may  perhaps  be  fit- 
tingly closed  by  quoting  four  passages  —  one  of 
a  clear  misuse  of  dashes,  with  commas,  for  semi- 
colons; the  second  and  third  are  specimens  of 
Ruskin's  eccentric  punctuation  as  exemplified  in 
his  use  of  dashes;  and  the  last,  a  deliverance  of 
Mr.  Cobbett,  which  shows  the  development  of  the 
dash  since  his  day. 

But  if  there  be  a  community  which  cannot  stand  any 
one  of  these  tests,  —  a  country  where  knowledge  can- 
not be  diffused  without  perils  of  mob  law  and  stat- 
ute-law, —  where  speech  is  not  free,  —  where  the 
post-office  is  violated,  mail-boxes  opened,  and  letters 
tampered  with,  —  where  public  debts  and  private 
debts  outside  of  the  State  are  repudiated,  —  where 
liberty  is  attacked  in  the  primary  institution  of  social 
life,  —  where  the  position  of  the  white  woman  is  in- 
juriously affected  by  the  outlawry  of  the  black  woman, 
—  where  the  arts,  such  as  they  have,  are  all  imported, 
having  no  indigenous  life,  —  where  the  laborer  is  not 


THE  DASH  139 

secured  in  the  earnings  of  his  own  hands,  —  where  suf- 
frage is  not  free  and  equal,  —  that  country  is,  in  all 
these  respects,  not  civil,  but  barbarous.  —  EMERSON. 

Only  the  first  dash  and  the  last  are  appropri- 
ately used :  under  numbers  4  and  2  respectively 
of  the  rules  for  the  use  of  the  single  dash. 

Then  after  agriculture,  the  art  of  kings,  take  the 
next  head  of  human  arts  —  Weaving;  the  art  of  queens, 
honored  of  all  noble  Heathen  women,  in  the  person  of 
their  virgin  goddess  —  honored  of  all  Hebrew  women 
by  the  word  of  their  wisest  king —  "She  layeth  her 
hands  to  the  spindle."  —  RUSKIN. 

Broidered  robe,  only  to  be  rent  —  helm  and  sword, 
only  to  be  dimmed;  jewel  and  gold,  only  to  be  scat- 
tered —  there  have  been  three  kinds  of  kings  who  have 
scattered  these.  —  RUSKIN. 

In  concluding  this  letter,  let  me  caution  you  against 
the  use  of  what,  by  some,  is  called  the  dash.  The  dash 
is  a  stroke  along  the  line;  thus,  "I  am  rich  —  I  was 
poor —  I  shall  be  poor  again."  This  is  wild  work  in- 
deed !  Who  is  to  know  what  is  intended  by  the  use  of 
these  dashes?  Those  who  have  thought  proper,  like 
Mr.  Lindley  Murray,  to  place  the  dash  among  the 
grammatical  points,  ought  to  give  us  some  rule  relative 
to  its  different  longitudinal  dimensions  in  different 
cases.  The  inch,  the  three-quarter-inch,  the  half-inch, 
the  quarter-inch;  these  would  be  something  determin- 
ate; but  "the  dash'1  without  measure  must  be  a  most 
perilous  thing  for  a  young  grammarian  to  handle.  In 
short,  "the  dash"  is  a  cover  for  ignorance  as  to  the  use 
of  points,  and  it  can  serve  no  other  purpose.1 

1  Cobbett,  English  Grammar,  edition  of  1906,  p.  85. 


140  PUNCTUATION 

The  Hyphen 

The  hyphen  is  used  between  the  component 
parts  of  a  compound  word,  properly  so-called;1 
also  between  the  various  elements  of  a  compound 
word  manufactured  for  the  occasion.  The  letters 
of  Professor  James  are  rich  in  manufactured  com- 
pounds. 

The  well-known  and  how-often-fondly-contem- 
plated features  tell  the  whole  story  in  the  photograph. 

For  some  time  past  I  have  thought  with  longing 
.  .  .  of  the  extraordinary,  and  in  ordinary  moments  lit- 
tle appreciated,  but  sometimes-coming-across-you-and- 
striking-you-with-an-unexpected-sense-of-rich-privi- 
lege  blessing  of  a  mother's  love  (excuse  my  ancient 
German  style). 

If  two  or  more  compound  words  of  which  the 
second  element  is  the  same  are  connected  by 
"and"  or  "or,"  that  element  is  frequently  omitted 
from  the  first  compound ;  in  which  case  the  hy- 
phen should  be  allowed  to  stand,  to  indicate  the 
omission. 

I  left  Keene  this  A.M.,  where  I  had  three  life-[giving] 
and  health-giving  weeks  in  the  forest.  — •  W.  JAMES. 

Mr.  Summey  is  well  advised  when  he  says: 
"The  hyphen  is  usually  a  nuisance  in  suspended 
expressions  like  ten-  or  twenty-dollar  notes.  It  is 

1  This  use  of  the  hyphen  is  discussed  in  a  separate  section  on 
"Compound  Words,"  pp.  197-206. 


PARENTHESES  141 

clearly  a  nuisance  when  unnecessary  to  meaning  or 
consistency."  l  It  can  almost  always  be  avoided; 
even  repetition  of  the  second  element  is  frequently 
less  unpleasant.  But  there  are  times  when  its  em- 
ployment seems  to  be  obligatory;  as  in,  — 

As  "  period  furniture"  these  pieces  are  not  a  success, 
for  they  are  not  purely  of  any  recognized  type,  not  even 
early-  or  mid- Victorian. 

But  it  is  particularly  obnoxious  here,  as  "early 
Victorian"  by  itself  would  require  no  hyphen. 

The  only  remaining  use  of  the  hyphen  is  to  indi- 
cate that  an  incomplete  word  stands  at  the  end  of 
a  line. 

Parentheses 

Parentheses  (sometimes  called  curves,  to  avoid 
a  possible  confusion  due  to  the  fact  that  the  same 
name  is  often  given  to  parenthetical  clauses, 
which  may  or  may  not  be  set  off  by  the  curved 
marks)  have  certain  special  uses. 

1 .  To  enclose  letters  or  numerals  marking  the 
divisions  and  subdivisions  of  a  subject.   There  is 
no  universal  practice  in  this  regard,  but  the  pa- 
rentheses are  much  more  frequently  omitted  with 
numerals,  especially  Roman  numerals,  than  with 
letters. 

2.  To  enclose  the  references  for  quotations  or 
statements,  if  such  references  are  embodied  in  the 

1  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  177. 


142  PUNCTUATION 

text.  But,  except  where  they  are  merely  inci- 
dental, it  is  much  better  to  set  them  as  footnotes. 
In  the  "Atlantic,"  where  footnotes  are  used  spar- 
ingly, if  the  source  of  a  quotation  is  important,  it 
is  the  more  usual  practice  to  say,  for  instance, 

"In  the  Atlantic  for  November  last,  Mr.  

describes  in  enthusiastic  terms,"  than  "In  are- 
cent  number  of  the  Atlantic  (November,  1920), 

a  contributor  (Mr. )  describes,"  or,  "In  a 

recent  number  ...  a  contributor  describes," 
sending  the  reader  to  a  footnote  for  the  reference. 
But  sometimes,  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  we 
do  violence  to  our  own  preferences. 

3.  To  enclose  an  interpolated  exclamation  mark 
or  question  mark,  inserted  to  express  incredulity, 
doubt,  irony,  etc.1 

So  much  for  the  special  uses  of  the  parentheses. 
They  are  used  also  to  enclose  parenthetical,  or 
interpolated  matter;  but  this  function  is  shared 
with,  if,  indeed,  it  is  not  being  monopolized  by, 
dashes  used  in  pairs.  "The  most  frequent  paren- 
thetical points,"  says  Mr.  Summey,  "are  com- 
mas, with  dashes  second,  and  curves  a  distant 
third."2  While  this  may  be  an  accurate  state- 
ment if  we  give  the  broadest  possible  signification 
to  the  term  "parenthetical,"  —  that  it  covers 

1  See  in  the  sections  treating  of  those  marks,  on  pp.  148  and  151 
respectively. 

J  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  107. 


PARENTHESES  143 

"everything  that  is  adverbial,"  —  it  is,  at  all 
events,  a  much  simpler  matter  to  decide  when 
commas  are  sufficient  than,  when  commas  are 
manifestly  too  weak,  to  choose  between  paren- 
theses and  dashes,  if  there  is,  in  fact,  any  real 
choice.  It  may  seem  sometimes  as  if,  in  a  certain 
case,  parentheses  were  more  appropriate  —  as, 
for  example,  in  the  following  sentence;  but  we 
cannot  derive  from  it  a  rule  that  a  parenthetical 
clause  in  the  form  of  a  question  should  be  set  off  by 
parentheses  rather  than  by  dashes. 

His  range  of  intellectual  experience,  his  profound 
cultivation  in  literature,  in  science  and  in  art  (has 
there  been  in  our  generation  a  more  cultivated  man?), 
his  absolutely  unfettered  and  untrammeled  mind,  etc. 

It  may  be  said,  however,  that  when  the  paren- 
thetical clause  is  a  long  one,  the  parentheses  are  of 
more  assistance  to  the  reader  than  dashes,  be- 
cause the  appearance  of  a  single  dash  does  not 
always  indicate  that  another  is  coming,  and  its 
function  in  the  particular  case  may  be  misunder- 
stood ;  whereas,  when  one  encounters  the  opening 
curve,  one  knows  that  the  parenthesis  must  last 
until  the  closing  one  makes  its  appearance.  The 
same  argument  may  hold  good  even  in  a  shorter 
parenthetical  clause,  if  it  includes  a  period  and  the 
beginning  of  a  new  sentence.1  In  the  following 

1  See  The  King's  English,  p.  272. 


144  PUNCTUATION 

sentence,  from  the  works  of  Henry  James,  the 
interval  between  the  dashes  is  so  great  that  one 
may  well  feel  uncertain  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
first  one.  Incidentally,  Mr.  James's  manipulation 
of  the  comma  is  well  exemplified  here. 

I  remember  on  one  occasion  arriving  very  late  of  a 
summer  night,  after  an  almost  unbroken  run  from  Lon- 
don, and  the  note  of  that  approval  —  I  was  the  only 
person  alighting  at  the  station  below  the  hill  of  the 
little  fortress  city,  under  whose  at  once  frowning  and 
gaping  gate  I  must  have  passed,  in  the  warm  darkness 
and  the  absolute  stillness,  very  much  after  the  felt 
fashion  of  a  person  of  importance  about  to  be  enor- 
mously incarcerated  —  gives  one,  for  preservation, 
thus  belated,  the  pitch,  as  I  may  call  it,  at  various 
times,  though  always  at  one  season,  of  an  almost  sys- 
tematised  aesthetic  use  of  the  place. 

Again,  where,  of  two  parenthetical  clauses,  both 
of  which  require  to  be  set  off  by  stronger  marks 
than  commas,  one  comes  within  the  other,  it  is 
necessary,  in  order  to  avoid  confusion,  to  use  pa- 
rentheses for  one  and  dashes  for  the  other,  as  in 
the  following  example:  — 

Of  a  hundred,  nay,  of  a  thousand  or  a  million  babies, 
—  and  though  I  cannot  speak  as  a  woman,  it  seems  to 
me  (except,  perhaps,  for  a  livelier  interest  and  pleasure 
among  them  in  their  infant  appearance)  that  every- 
thing I  am  saying  applies  equally  to  babies  of  that  fas- 
cinating sex,  —  the  trivial  details  observed  by  those 
who  are  nearest  them  are  practically  identical. 


BRACKETS  145 

As  parentheses  are  used,  for  better  or  worse,  in 
this  advertisement  of  a  well-known  financial  insti- 
tution of  Boston,  we  offer  it  here  as  a  riddle :  can 
this  sentence  be  punctuated;  and  if  so,  how? 

I.  Office  hours  from  9 A.M.  to  4  P.M.  Saturdays  9  A.M. 
to  I  P.M.  The  vaults  will  not  be  open  for  business  Sun- 
days, Holidays  or  Bunker  Hill  Day  (the  seventeenth  of 
June,  excepting  when  it  comes  on  Sunday,  when  it  will 
be  the  eighteenth) . 

Brackets 

Brackets,  sometimes  called  "square  brackets," 
are  used  almost  exclusively  to  surround  something 
that  is  interpolated  in  quoted  matter — some- 
thing, that  is,  which  is  not  a  part  of  the  quota- 
tion. For  example,  in  the  heading  of  a  letter,  if 
it  is  desirable  to  fix  definitely  the  place,  or  date, 
at  which  it  was  written. 

PARIS,  Sept.  15  [1919]. 
[VIENNA]  May  27,  1890. 

They  are  often  resorted  to,  to  identify  the  per- 
son referred  to  by  a  pronoun,  or  to  explain  any- 
thing that  is,  presumably,  explained  in  what  pre- 
cedes the  passage  quoted. 

In  the  "  Congressional  Record  "  they  are  used 
to  identify  a  Senator  or  Representative  referred 
to  by  a  speaker,  but  not  named. 

As  the  Senator  from  California  [Mr.  Johnson]  said 
in  his  elaborate  speech  yesterday. 
11 


146  PUNCTUATION 

The  Exclamation  Mark 

The  exclamation  mark  is  used  after  an  inter- 
jection standing  alone,  also  after  inter jaculatory 
phrases,  including  words  of  invocation,  prayer,  or 
entreaty. 

"Ah!  you've  not  seen  her?" 
Alas !  alas !  it  was  too  late  for  repentance. 
How  long,  O  Lord ! 
God  bless  my  soul! 

"My  poor  dear  countryman!  and  he  thought  me 
worthy,  did  he?" 

Also  after  clauses  or  sentences  expressing  sur- 
prise, passion,  admiration,  or  any  strong  emotion, 
or  contempt,  or  irony.  When  such  passages  begin 
with  "Oh,"  the  better  practice  is  to  reserve  the 
mark  until  the  end. 

"Habit  be  hanged!"  cried  Sir  Luken. 
"  But  not  the  last  day  —  the  last  hour! "  he  pleaded. 
As  if  he  could  be  helped  effectively  by  a  shadow,  or 
worthily  by  a  slave! 

Oh,  what  a  fall  was  there,  my  countrymen! 
Entomb'd  within  this  vault  a  lawyer  lies 
Who,  Fame  assureth  us,  was  just  and  wise!1 

1  This  couplet  is  given  in  The  King's  English  (p.  258),  as  an 
example  of  the  single  exception  to  the  rule  referred  to  below  that 
this  mark  should  be  used  only  after  "real  exclamations":  to 
express  the  writer's  "incredulity  or  other  feeling  about  what  is  not 
his  own  statement."  In  the  epitaph  quoted,  "the  exclamation 
mark  is  a  neat  and  concise  sneer  at  the  legal  profession." 


THE  EXCLAMATION  MARK  147 

The  authors  of  "The  King's  English"  seem  to 
the  writer  to  restrict  the  availability  of  this  mark 
too  much  when  they  confine  it  to  what  they  call 
"real  exclamations";  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to 
give  it  too  great  an  extension  when  they  include  in 
that  category  "complete  statements  that  contain 
an  exclamatory  word."  *  Although,  in  the  example 
given  by  them  (' '  What  a  piece  of  work  is  Man ! "), 
the  mark  is  properly  used,  such  "exclamatory 
words"  as  what,  how,  and  the  like,  frequently  in- 
troduce such  everyday  expressions  as  "What  a 
lovely  day  it  is,"  and  "How  well  Mr.  So-and-So 

spoke,"  "How  pretty  Miss S looks  to-night," 

all  of  which  are  "complete  sentences";  and  it 
seems  to  us  that  the  use  of  the  exclamation  mark 
in  such  cases  (very  common  in  the  works  of  some 
authors)  tends  to  cheapen  it  and  to  weaken  its 
force  as  an  indication  of  genuine  feeling  of  some 
sort. 

"  I  read  warily;  and  whenever  I  find  the  writing 
of  a  lady,  the  first  thing  I  do  is  to  cast  my  eye 
along  her  pages  to  see  whether  I  am  likely  to  be 
annoyed  by  the  traps  and  spring-guns  of  interjec- 
tions; and  if  I  happen  to  espy  them,  I  do  not  leap 
the  paling."2 

Although  it  seldom  happens  that  any  "sudden 
emotion  of  the  mind"  is  expressed  without  some 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  258. 

*  Walter  Savage  Landor,  quoted,  ibid. 


148  PUNCTUATION 

"exclamatory  word,"  the  mark  in  question  may, 
for  rhetorical  purposes,  properly  be  used  in  the 
absence  of  any  such  word ;  unless,  that  is,  we  in- 
clude in  that  category  the  numberless  words  that 
give  emphasis  to  a  statement. 

He  said  it  —  yes,  he  actually  said  it! 

Don't,  I  entreat  you,  take  the  risk! 

Often,  too,  the  exclamation  point  may  be  de- 
manded by  the  use  of  italics. 

His  wife  told  him  that  it  was  hopeless,  and  still, 
still,  he  did  it! 

Generally  speaking,  the  author  is  the  best  judge 
of  the  meaning  to  be  given  to  passages  not  exclam- 
atory in  form,  although  apparently  so  in  sense; 
and  if  the  copy  bears  any  evidence  of  careful  pre- 
paration, the  use  or  non-use  of  the  mark  in  such 
cases  should  be  left  to  him. 

"The  exclamation  point  .  .  .  has  a  peculiar 
function  in  apostrophizing,  and  the  poets  avail 
themselves  of  it  freely. 

"O  Lady!  we  receive  but  what  we  give." 

An  interpolated  exclamation  mark,  set  between 
parentheses,  —  or  between  brackets  in  a  direct 
quotation,  —  calls  special  attention,  usually  with 
a  suggestion  of  dissent  or  sarcasm,  to  the  word  or 
words  immediately  preceding. 

1  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  235.  In  this  paper  Mr.  Garrison 
gives  other  examples  showing  the  lack  of  uniformity  among  poets 
in  the  use  of  this  point. 


THE  EXCLAMATION  MARK  149 

The  honorable  (!)  gentleman  has  forgotten  to  state 
the  terms  upon  which  he  accepted  the  office. 

This  use  of  the  mark  is  probably  too  firmly  es- 
tablished to  be  prohibited ;  but,  although  it  does 
not  deserve  the  sweeping  condemnation  of  "The 
King's  English,"  as  "  a  confession  of  weakness  and 
infallible  sign  of  the  prentice  hand"  (page  261), 
and  as  "  a  device  of  those  pessimists  who,  regard- 
ing the  reader's  case  as  desperate,  assist  him  with 
punctuation,  italics,  and  the  like"  (page  216),  it 
should  be  practised  with  restraint. 

This  mark  is  never  used  in  immediate  connec- 
tion with  the  comma,  semicolon,  or  colon;  it  may 
be  used  before  the  dash ;  and  after  the  dash  in  an 
unfinished  exclamatory  sentence. 

It  is  set  inside  quotation  marks  if  it  is  a  part  of 
the  quotation;  otherwise,  outside. 

Gentlemen  may  cry,  "  Peace !  Peace ! "  but  there  is  no 
peace. 

Think  of  it!  the  only  words  that  this  man  could  find 
to  say  when  he  was  confronted  with  the  consequences 
of  the  flagrant  recklessness  of  his  conduct  were  that  he 
was  "sorry"!  Sorry!  God  save  the  mark! 

It  is  set  inside  the  closing  parenthesis  only  when 
the  parenthetical  passage  alone  is  exclamatory. 

And  it  was  on  the  fourth  day  of  July  (behold  the 
irony  of  Fate !)  that  this  blow  was  struck  at  the  very 
foundation  of  our  liberties. 


150  PUNCTUATION 

The  Question  Mark 

The  question  mark,  or  interrogation  point,  has 
but  three  strictly  proper  uses :  — 

I.  To  mark  a  direct  question. 

Direct  questions  may,  or  may  not,  be  interroga- 
tive in  form.  The  first  category  scarcely  needs 
exemplification.  The  following  are  examples  of 
questions  not  interrogative  in  form,  to  which  the 
mark  adds  the  necessary  interrogative  force.1 

Even  if  she  did  offer  you  her  hand,  —  as  she  did  to 
me,  —  it  was  as  if  across  a  broad  river.  Trick  of  man- 
ner, or  a  bit  of  truth  peeping  out?  —  CONRAD. 

And  then  he  said,  —  or  asked,  for  there  was  always 
a  question  in  his  voice,  —  "I  shall  go  back?  Back  to 
my  home?  I  shall  buy  the  picture?  And  hang  it  on 
the  wall  of  the  room  where  I  was  born?  —  CLAUDIA 
CRANSTON. 

Then  said  the  Pearl  Empress:  "Possibly  the  har- 
mony of  her  voice  solaced  the  Son  of  Heaven?" 

But  he  replied,  "She  spoke  not."  —  L.  ADAMS  BECK. 

"  Then  I  suppose  they  '11  soon  bring  the  white  bread 
and  the  brown?"  Alice  ventured  to  remark.  —  LEWIS 
CARROLL. 

And  the  spirit-lamp  is  in  case  you  should  wake  in  the 
night  —  you  could  make  yourself  a  cup  of  cocoa?  — 
A.  D.  SEDGWICK. 

But,  at  least,  if  the  Greeks  do  not  give  character, 
they  give  ideal  beauty?  —  RUSKIN. 

1  See,  for  other  examples,  W.  P.  Garrison's  paper,  heretofore 
cited:  Atlantic,  August,  1906,  p.  234. 


THE  QUESTION  MARK  151 

Now  whether,  seeing  these  two  things,  fate  and 
power,  we  are  permitted  to  believe  in  unity?  —  EMER- 
SON. 

2.  Interpolated  between  parentheses  —  or,  in 
quoted  matter,  between  brackets  —  to  suggest 
a  doubt  as  to  the  accuracy  of  a  statement,  the 
proper  form  of  a  name,  or  the  like.1 

We  are  told  that  the  gentleman  who  has  been  carry- 
ing on  this  game,  a  member  of  the  English  peerage  (?), 
is  the  heir  to  large  estates. 

The  novels  of  Turgenev  (?)  are  still  popular  in  cer- 
tain circles,  especially  in  France. 

3.  To  take  the  place  of  an  uncertain  or  unknown 
fact  or  date. 

The  Venerable  Bede  lived  in  the  twelfth  century, 
(?)  to  (?) 

This  mark  is  frequently,  but  always  incorrectly, 
used  with  an  indirect  question. 

He  asked  me  where  I  was  going? 

Ask  Spurgheim,  ask  the  doctors,  ask  Quetelet,  if 
temperaments  decide  nothing?  or  if  there  be  anything 
they  do  not  decide?  —  EMERSON. 

Two  question  marks,  with  quotation  marks  be- 
tween, may  be  used  in  an  interrogative  sentence 
which  ends  with  a  quoted  question;  as,  — 

1  The  strictures  of  The  King's  English,  quoted  above  (p.  149),  on 
the  use  of  "a  bracketed  stop,"  apply  with  equal  force  to  such 
use  of  a  question  mark  and  an  exclamation  mark.  Mr.  Woolley 
(Handbook  of  Composition,  p.  98)  says  that  the  use  of  the  question 
mark  "as  a  notice  of  humor  or  irony  is  a  puerility." 


152  PUNCTUATION 

"Lemuel,"  she  said,  "what  was  it  you  meant  when 
you  said,  'Where  d'  you  s'pose  I  've  been?'?" 

But  the  better,  although  perhaps  the  less  log- 
ical, practice  is  to  let  one  question  mark  suffice  — 
thus:  .  .  .  been'?" 

NOTE.  —  Certain  words,  especially  "how"  and  "what," 
often  seem  to  give  an  interrogative  form  to  what  is  really  an 
exclamatory  sentence.  This  is  a  subject  as  to  which  no  final 
rule  can  be  laid  down:  the  author  is  the  best  judge  of  his  own 
meaning. 

In  a  compound  interrogative  sentence,  that  is, 
one  containing  a  series  of  questions,  it  is  generally 
the  better  practice  to  reserve  the  question  mark 
for  the  end,  separating  the  earlier  questions  with 
commas,  or  semicolons,  as  the  circumstances  de- 
mand. But  the  question  mark  may  be  repeated 
after  each  question,  to  give  added  emphasis  to 
each. 

This  mark  is  set  inside  quotation  marks  if 
the  quoted  passage  forms  a  question;  otherwise, 
outside. 

In  this  sentence  from  Matthew  Arnold's  essay 
on  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  question  mark  should  be 
outside ;  but  it  is  fair  to  say  that  it  is  taken  here 
from  a  reprint  in  a  collection  of  essays  by  various 
hands,  and  it  is  not  at  all  certain  that  Arnold  was 
guilty  of  the  error. 

What  would  have  become  of  his  notion  of  the  exiti- 
abilis  superstitio,  of  the ' '  obstinacy  of  the  Christians?  " 


QUOTATION  MARKS  153 

Quotation  Marks 

The  use  of  single  quotation  marks  ("quotes") 
in  the  "Atlantic"  was  adopted  some  years  ago, 
on  expert  advice,  for  typographical  reasons  alone, 
although  there  is  an  abundance  of  precedents 
for  it  in  the  practice  of  some  of  the  best  British 
printing-offices  and  publishers.1  In  the  narrow 
(i4-pica)  measure  of  the  columns  of  the  magazine 
the  double  quotes  take  up  an  unconscionable 
amount  of  room,  where  they  occur  at  all  fre- 
quently, thereby  interfering  seriously  with  good 
spacing,  and  at  the  same  time  give  an  unpleas- 
antly "spotty  "  appearance  to  the  page.  The  pub- 
lishers have  not  had  occasion  to  regret  their  long- 
meditated  decision  to  make  this  change,  which 
involved,  of  course,  using  the  double  mark  for 
interior  quotations.  If  there  is,  as  sometimes  hap- 
pens, a  third  quotation  within  the  second,  we  re- 
cur to  the  single  mark,  and  so  on.2 

In  Atlantic  books,  the  customary  use  of  double 
quotes,  with  single  quotes  inside,  is  followed. 

The  ordinary  use  of  quotes,  to  enclose  a  direct 

1  For  example,  the  single  quotes  are  used  in  The  King's  English, 
so  often  drawn  upon  in  this  book;  and  in  Mr.  Hart's  work,  cited 
in  the  next  note. 

2  Mr.  Hart,  in  his  Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers,  etc.,  quotes 
from  Mr.  De  Vinne  this  example  of  quotation  marks  packed  five 
deep:  'In  the  New  Testament  we  have  the  following  words: 
"Jesus  answered  them,  'Is  it  not  written  in  your  law,  "I  said, 
'Ye  are  gods'"?"" 


154  PUNCTUATION 

quotation,  needs  no  elaboration.  Their  position 
with  reference  to  other  punctuation  marks  is  dis- 
cussed with  reference  to  those  marks  respectively. 
We  may  recapitulate  thus:  they  are  always  set 
outside  the  comma  and  the  period ;  always  inside 
the  colon  and  semicolon;  outside  or  inside  the 
marks  of  exclamation  and  interrogation  according 
as  those  marks  do  or  do  not  belong  to  the  quoted 
matter;  outside  the  dash  when  it  stands  for  some- 
thing left  unsaid,  and  inside  when  it  is  used  as  an 
ordinary  punctuation  mark;  inside  parentheses 
when  the  parenthetical  clause  alone  is  quoted, 
otherwise  outside.1 

Quotes  are  properly  used  to  set  off  words  ac- 
companied by  definitions,  unless  such  words  are 
set  in  a  different  type,  as  italic  or  bold-face. 

Mighty  of  heart,  mighty  of  mind,  —  "magnani- 
mous," —  to  be  this,  is  indeed  to  be  great  in  life.  — 
RUSKIN. 

They  are  properly  used  with  words  to  which 
special  attention  is  called,  or  which  have  a  special 
meaning  in  the  text. 

Such  a  newspaper  paragraph  would  be  as  impossible 
in  a  Christian  country  as  a  deliberate  assassination 
permitted  on  its  public  street.  "Christian,"  did  I  say? 
—  RUSKIN. 

1  For  a  discussion  of  this  whole  question  of  the  right  order  as  be- 
tween quotation  marks  and  other  "stops"  from  the  English  point 
of  view,  —  which,  however  logical,  is  at  variance  with  the  common 
American  practice,  —  see  The  King's  English,  pp.  282  ff. 


QUOTATION   MARKS  155 

Observe  how  persistently  your  German  sympathizer 
harps  upon  the  words  "  hundred-per-cent  American." 

I  said  "minuteness"  and  "selfishness"  of  sensation, 
but,  in  a  word,  I  ought  to  have  said  "injustice"  or 
"unrighteousness"  of  sensation.  —  RUSKIN. 

Perhaps  "a  young  Minister  of  State"  held  the  fore- 
most rank  in  that  respect.  —  MEREDITH. 

"Free"  was  a  word  that  checked  her  throbs  as  at  a 
question  of  life  or  death.  —  MEREDITH. 

Observe  that  word  "State";  we  have  got  into  a 
loose  way  of  using  it.  It  means  literally  the  standing 
and  stability  of  a  thing ;  and  you  have  the  full  force 
of  it  in  the  derived  word  "statue"  —  the  immovable 
thing.  —  RUSKIN. 

With  such  sentences  as,  "Said  I  to  myself, "  "  I 
thought,"  "He  might  well  have  said,"  —  that  is 
to  say,  where  the  quasi-quotation,  although  in  di- 
rect form,  is  not  of  words  actually  spoken,  —  the 
practice  is  not  uniform ;  but,  as  one  can  see  by  con- 
sulting books  written  half  a  century  ago,  the  use 
of  quotes  in  such  cases  is  becoming  more  and  more 
general,  and  it  is  customary  to  use  them  in  the 
"Atlantic." 

1789  asked  of  a  thing,  Is  it  rational?  1642  asked  of  a 
thing,  Is  it  legal?  or,  when  it  went  further,  Is  it  accord- 
ing to  conscience?  —  SIR  M.  FOSTER. 

He  (the  elephant)  looked  betune  his  feet  at  the 
dhrain,  an'  he  looked  at  me,  and  I  sez  to  myself; 
"Terence,  my  son,  you've  been  watchin'  this  Noah's 
ark  too  long.  Run  for  the  life!" — KIPLING. 


156  PUNCTUATION 

Then  he  wagged  his  ear,  sayin',  "Do  my  sinses  de- 
ceive me?"  as  plain  as  print.  —  KIPLING. 

"What  can  it  be?"  said  I  to  myself:  "it  must  be 
one  of  my  old  friends  the  dervishes  of  Meshed."  — 
Adventures  of  Hajji  Baba,  Morier's  translation. 

I  therefore  began  to  take  myself  to  task  upon  what  I' 
did  know.  Let  me  see,  said  I,  I  know,  First,  That  all 
those  who  do  not  believe  in  Mahomet,  and  in  Ali  his 
lieutenant,  etc.  —  Adventures  of  Hajji  Baba.1 

I  recollect  a  nurse  called  Ann, 
Who  followed  me  about  the  grass ; 
And  one  fine  day  a  fine  young  man 
Came  up  and  kissed  the  pretty  lass. 
She  never  made  the  least  objection. 

Thinks  I,  "Aha! 

When  I  can  talk,  I  '11  tell  mamma." 
And  that's  my  earliest  recollection.  —  LOCKER. 

The  following  examples  show  Meredith's  incon- 
sistencies in  his  treatment  of  quotations.  The 
first  is  a  direct  quotation  (repetition)  of  words 
previously  spoken  by  one  of  the  characters;  the 
others  are  instances  of  passages  in  the  form  of 
direct  quotations,  but  not  actually  spoken.  All  are 
taken  from  "  Diana  of  the  Crossways." 

Her  words  rang  through  him.  At  every  meeting  she 
said  things  to  confound  his  estimate  of  the  wits  of 

1  It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  use  of  quotes  in  the  one  case 
and  their  omission  in  a  precisely  similar  case  in  the  same  book. 
Presumably  the  translator,  or  his  copyist,  was  responsible  in  the 
first  place,  and  the  proof-reader  failed  to  notice  the  difference.  In 
the  same  volume  are  instances  of  direct  quotations  without  quotes: 
"  He  mumbled  Allah,  Allah,"  etc. 


QUOTATION  MARKS  157 

woman,  or  [to]  be  remembered  for  some  spirited  ring 
they  had :  —  A  light  wind  will  make  a  dead  leaf  fly  like  a 
bird. 

Diana  saw  herself  through  the  haze  she  conjured  up. 
"Am  I  worse  than  other  women?"  was  a  piercing  twi- 
thought. 

With  a  complacent,  What  now,  Dacier  [he  was  alone], 
he  fixed  his  indifferent  eyes  on  the  first  column  of  the 
leaders. 

He  reviewed  dozens  of  speculations  until  the  impos- 
sibility of  seizing  one  determined  him  to  go  to  Mrs. 
Fryar-Gunnett  at  the  end  of  the  half-hour  —  "Just  to 
see  what  these  women  have  to  say  for  themselves." 

"For  I  am  not  one  of  the  lecturing  Mammonites," 
she  could  say. 

Professor  Tyndall  sometimes  used  italics  for  a 
quasi-quotation . 

A  man,  for  example,  can  say,  /  think,  I  feel,  I  love. 

In  the  next  example  his  contemporary  uses 
quotes  in  an  exactly  parallel  case:  — 

The  hypothesis  of  evolution  supposes  that,  in  all 
this  vast  progression,  there  would  be  no  breach  of  the 
continuity,  no  point  at  which  we  could  say,  "This  is  a 
natural  process,"  and,  "This  is  not  a  natural  process." 
—  HUXLEY. 

Occasionally  one  finds  a  distinction  made,  or 
attempted  to  be  made,  between  direct  quotations 
and  the  quasi-quotations  illustrated  in  the  fore- 
going examples,  by  using  double  quotes  with  the 


158  PUNCTUATION 

first  and  single  quotes  with  the  others.  But  it  is 
hard  to  maintain  the  distinction  consistently,  and 
it  is  disregarded  in  Atlantic  books  unless  the  author 
insists  upon  it. 

The  not  infrequent  practice,  especially  with 
certain  authors,  of  using  quotes  with  indirect  quo- 
tations is  not  justifiable. 

He  used  a  certain  penetrative  mildness  of  tone  in 
saying  that  "he  hoped  the  book  would  succeed."  — 
MEREDITH. 

The  quotes  should  be  omitted,  or  the  sentence 
changed,  to  read:  He  used  .  .  .  in  saying,  "I  hope 
the  book  will  succeed." 

He  then  followed  my  example,  declared  he  never 
felt  more  refreshed  in  his  life,  and  .  .  .  said,  "he 
would  go  and  look  after  the  horses."  —  BORROW.1 

Quotes  should  not  be  used  with  foreign  words  or 
phrases  except  under  the  same  conditions  as  with 
English  ones ;  such  words  or  phrases  should  be  set 
in  italics,  if  it  is  necessary  to  give  them  extra 
prominence. 

In  the  "Atlantic"  and  in  Atlantic  books,  verse 
extracts  are  always  set  in  smaller  type,  and  no 
quotes  are  used  unless  the  verses  are  put  in  some- 
body's mouth. 

There  is  in  our  modern  world  conflict  of  a  sort, 
but  without  battle-cries  and  without  leaders,  like  the 
1  Quoted  in  The  King's  English,  p.  289. 


QUOTATION  MARKS  159 

battle  of  embryo  atoms  in  Milton's  Chaos,  mixed 
confusedly :  — 

To  whom  these  most  adhere,  he  rules  a  moment. 

But  the  words  were  laughable  or  pathetic.  I  was 
adjured  to 

"  Blow  de  mon  down  with  a  bottle  of  rum, 
Oh,  de  mon  —  mon  —  blow  de  mon  down! " 

For  one  thing,  there  is  the  impulse  to  cry  out,  "Stop ! 
Stop!  don't  cut  it  all  off! 

"O  barber,  spare  that  hair! 
Leave  some  upon  my  brow! 
For  months  it 's  sheltered  me, 
And  I  '11  protect  it  now!  " 

So  with  prose  extracts :  if  they  are  at  all  numer- 
ous, —  that  is,  in  an  article  in  the  magazine,  if 
there  are  more  than  two  or  three,  —  they  are  set 
in  smaller  type,  without  quotes  unless  they  are 
put  in  somebody's  mouth.  If  there  are  but  two  or 
three,  even  though  they  are  of  considerable  length, 
the  type  is  not  reduced,  and  quotes  are  used. 

If  a  letter  is  printed  with  date-line  and  saluta- 
tion (or  either),  or  with  signature,  it  is  set  off  by 
blank  lines  above  and  below,  without  quotes  and, 
except  in  fiction,  is  set  in  smaller  type.  But  if 
there  is  neither  date-line,  nor  salutation,  nor  sig- 
nature, the  letter  is  ordinarily  set  in  the  text  type, 
with  quotes.  If  there  are  many  letters,  they  are 
all  set  in  smaller  type,  without  quotes.1 

1  In  the  magazine,  considerations  of  space,  and  the  necessity  of 
expanding  or  contracting  articles,  are  sometimes  the  decisive  fac- 
tors in  arranging  the  matter  of  the  setting  of  prose  extracts. 


i6o  PUNCTUATION 

If  a  quoted  passage  contains  more  than  one 
paragraph,  the  quotes  are  repeated  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  paragraph,  but  are  placed  at  the  end 
of  the  last  one  only.  The  old  practice  of  repeating 
them  at  the  beginning  of  each  line  is  not  now  in 
vogue  in  the  United  States,  although  it  persists  to 
some  extent,  especially  in  newspapers,  in  Great 
Britain. 

If  a  quoted  passage  consists  of  a  complete  sen- 
tence, with  subject  and  predicate,  it  is  the  better 
practice  to  begin  it  with  a  capital;  otherwise,  if  it 
is  only  a  phrase,  or  a  part  of  a  sentence  that  is 
completed  by  the  unquoted  text. 

Having,  as  Stevenson  says,  "thrown  her  soul  and 
body  down  for  God  to  plough  them  under,"  she  has 
grown  up  out  of  that  furrow  with  a  certain  fierceness  of 
joy  in  life.  —  E.  YEOMANS. 

The  tendency  to  use  unnecessary  quotation 
marks  should  be  guarded  against.  It  may  be  said 
that  this  is  true  of  every  punctuation  mark,  as 
well  as  of  a  good  many  other  things,  and  that  it 
may  well  be  assumed  to  be  the  function  of  such 
books  as  this  to  point  out  when  they  are  unneces- 
sary. But  the  special  point  here  in  mind  is  the 
frequent  use  of  these  marks  with  phrases  that  are, 
from  long  acquaintance,  familiar  in  our  mouths 
as  household  words.  The  last  seven  words,  for  in- 
stance, would  often,  but,  we  believe,  unnecessar- 
ily, be  surrounded  by  quotes.  "To  an  educated 


THE  APOSTROPHE  161 

man  it  is  an  annoyance  to  find  his  author  warning 
him  that  something  written  long  ago,  and  quoted 
every  day  almost  ever  since,  is  not  an  original 
remark  now  first  struck  out."  * 

The  Apostrophe 

1 .  The  apostrophe  is  used  chiefly  as  the  sign  of 
the  possessive  case.   It  precedes  the  5  in  the  pos- 
sessive of  singular  nouns  and  of  plurals  not  ending 
in  s:  the  man's  coat;  men's  coats.   It  follows  the  s 
in  the  plural  of  nouns  ending  in  s:  the  boys'  coats. 

NOTE.  —  In  forming  the  possessive  case  of  singular  nouns 
ending  in  s,  the  apostrophe  should  be  followed  by  a  second  s,  as 
with  other  nouns,  except  in  a  few  cases  in  which  traditional 
usage  demands  that  it  be  omitted:  Jesus',  conscience1  (for  con- 
science' sake),  Moses1;  and  classical  proper  names  ending  in 
es:  Xerxes1,  Alcibiades' ,  and  the  like.  If  the  pronunciation  of 
the  second  5  is  harsh  to  the  ear,  it  can  be  disregarded  in  read- 
ing; but  it  should  always  be  printed,  except  as  noted  above. 

2.  The  omission  of  figures  in  dates  is  indicated 
by  an  apostrophe :  the  men  of  '76;  the  i?th  of  June, 
'75;  also,  the  omission  of  a  letter  or  letters  in  con- 
tracted forms:  'Tis,  he'll,  isn't,  wa'n't,  etc. 

NOTE.  —  Mr.  G.  Bernard  Shaw  has  adopted  the  practice  of 
writing  dont,  shant,  etc.,  instead  of  don't,  sha'n't,  etc.;  but  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  this  idiosyncrasy  will  ever  receive 
the  sanction  of  good  usage. 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  280.  The  authors  comment  thus  upon 
this  address  of  a  letter:  "John  Smith,  Esq.,  'Chatsworth,'  164  Mel- 
ton Road,  Leamington":  "The  implication  seems  to  be:  living  in 
the  house  that  sensible  people  call  164  Melton  Road,  but  one  fool 
likes  to  call  Chatsworth." 

12 


162  PUNCTUATION 

3.  The  plural  form  of  single  letters,  of  words, 
and  sometimes  of  phrases,  is  indicated  by  an 
apostrophe. 

Mind  your  p's  and  q's. 

There  were  not  a  few  "if  V  and  "may  he's"  in  his 
remarks. 

NOTE.  —  In  the  poem  "  Caliban  upon  Setebos,"  in  which  the 
pronoun  referring  to  Caliban  is  omitted  at  the  beginning  of 
nearly  every  sentence,  Browning  indicated  the  missing  word  by 
an  apostrophe,  set  as  modern  practice  would  set  the  same  mark 
to  indicate  the  omission  of  a  letter  —  as  in  'f  is. 

'Will  sprawl,  now  that  the  heat  of  day  is  best, 
Flat  on  his  belly  in  the  pit's  much  mire. 

So  far  as  the  writer's  experience  goes,  this  is  a  unique  case 
of  the  use  of  this  device; and  it  seems  so  illogical,  and  so  likely 
to  mislead  (if  it  is  not  taken  for  a  misprint),  that  in  prepar- 
ing the  copy  for  a  recent  reprint  of  the  poem,  he  took  out  the 
apostrophe  in  every  such  instance.  But  the  editor  of  the  vol- 
ume in  which  the  reprint  appeared  preferred  to  leave  them  "as 
Browning  wrote  them";  and  his  preference  was  followed  — 
under  protest. 

Although  in  modern  usage  the  apostrophe  in 
the  possessive  case  of  the  pronoun  it  has  been  dis- 
carded, the  old  form,  it's,  still  persists  to  some 
extent.  The  chief  objection  to  it,  aside  from  the 
fact  that  it  has  been  generally  discarded,  is  that 
it  not  infrequently  may,  so  far  as  the  context  goes, 
be  mistaken  for  a  contraction  of  it  is.  Like  many 
other  errors,  it  has  been  known  to  "get  by"  in 
the  "Atlantic." 


ABBREVIATIONS 

ABBREVIATIONS  are  rarely  tolerated  in  the  text, 
except  in  the  case  of  letters,  or  quoted  passages, 
when  the  habit  of  abbreviating  certain  words  may 
be  an  essential  part  of  the  author's  characteristic 
style.1 

"  I  know  of  hardly  any  words,"  says  Cobbett, 
"that  ought  to  be  abbreviated;  and  if  these  were 
not,  it  would  be  all  the  better.  People  may  in- 
dulge themselves  in  this  practice,  until  at  last  they 
come  to  write  the  greater  part  of  their  words  in 
single  letters.  The  frequent  use  of  abbreviations 
is  always  a  mark  of  slovenliness  and  vulgarity.  I 
have  known  Lords  abbreviate  almost  the  half  of 
their  words;  it  was,  very  likely,  because  they  did 
not  know  how  to  spell  them  to  the  end."2 

As  is  likely  to  be  the  case  with  the  observations 
of  this  erratic  genius,  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
good  sense  beneath  the  outer  surface  of  exaggera- 
tion. But  having  yielded  to  the  temptation  to 
quote  this  passage,  to  show  how  almost  invariably 
he  pointed  his  admonitions  with  a  "dig"  at  some 
one  of  his  pet  aversions,  —  in  this  case,  the 

1  When  tabulated  matter,  or  lists  of  names,  or  the  like,  are  em- 
bodied in  the  text,  shortened  forms  may  be  used  much  more  freely; 
but,  except  in  frankly  statistical  or  quasi-statistical  articles  and 
books,  it  is  generally  better  to  consign  such  matter  to  footnotes. 

*  English  Grammar,  edition  of  1906,  p.  83. 


164  ABBREVIATIONS 

"Lords,"  —  we  may  add  that  we  are  not  here 
concerned  with  the  class  of  abbreviations  which 
he  had  in  mind.  There  is  more  timeliness  in  the  re- 
cent protest  of  a  professor  of  English  against  the 
"  Plague  of  Abbreviation." 

If  "that  blessed  word  Mesopotamia"  were  in  practi- 
cal use  to-day,  it  would  doubtless  suffer  the  horror  of 
becoming  Meso. ,  or  Ma.  j1  for  witness  the  fate  of  Penn- 
sylvania and  that  blessed  word  California,  over  the 
sonority  of  which  commerce  does  not  permit  us  to 
linger.  Oh,  for  a  little  leisure  in  an  age  of  short  cuts! 
We  are  wedded  to  abbreviation  —  and  have  been  pre- 
viously divorced  from  courtesy.  The  present  writer 
has  determined  to  take  an  occasional  holiday  from  this 
orgy  of  shortening,  and  to  permit  himself,  on  envelopes 
and  elsewhere,  the  luxury  of  polysyllables.  North  shall 
not  become  a  negation,  or  east  a  mere  initial.  The 
post-office  clerk  shall  not  dim  his  sight  in  profane  en- 
deavors to  distinguish  Missouri  from  Maine,  and  New 
York  from  New  Jersey.  Esquire  shall  flaunt  its  full  en- 
sign, though  Mr.  must  remain  dwarfed  for  lack  of  a 
fair  fullness.  One  cannot  permit  Mister;  it  should  be 
used  only  in  humorous  stories. 

The  following  common  abbreviations  are  used 
in  all  cases,  when  accompanied  by  proper  names. 

Mr.  Mme.,Mlle.  Sr. 

Mrs.2  Messrs.  Dr. 

M.  Jr.  Esq. 

1This  author  seems  to  have  overlooked  the  quite  familiar 
Mespot. 

2  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  "Mister"  always  connotes  vulgarity, 
or,  perhaps,  humor.  On  the  other  hand,  "  Mistress,"  except  in  the 


ABBREVIATIONS  165 

Reverend  (Very  Reverend,  Right  Reverend, 
Most  Reverend),  Honorable  (Right  Honorable), 
should  not  be  abbreviated,  except  in  quoted  mat- 
ter, nor  should  Superintendent  and  Professor. 

Military  and  Naval  titles  should  be  spelled  in 
full,  but  U.S.A.,  U.S.N.,  R.A.,  R.N.,  and  the  like, 
are  usual  forms,  even  in  the  text;  as  are  the  sym- 
bols of  university  degrees  and  honorary  titles,  as 
A.B.,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  LittD.,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  R.A., 
and  the  like. 

The  abbreviations  B.C.  and  A.D.,  and  A.M.  and 
P.M.,  are  seldom  spelled  out,  and  are  always 
printed  in  small  capitals,  without  spaces. 

The  special  formula  SOS  —  the  wireless  signal 
for  assistance  —  is  not  an  abbreviation,  and  there- 
fore should  be  set  without  periods  and  without 
spaces,  and  not,  as  is  so  frequently  seen,  S.  O.  S. 

It  is  better  always,  in  the  text,  to  avoid  the 
use  of  i.e.  ("that  is"),  e.g.  ("for  example"),  viz. 
("namely"),  inst.,  prox.,  ult.  ("instant,  proximo, 
ultimo") ;  but  vide  and  circa,  which  are,  of  course, 
not  abbreviations,  though  sometimes  classed  as 
such,  may  properly  be  used. 

The  character  &  (called  "ampersand"  or  "short 

Southern  part  of  the  United  States,  has  an  old-fashioned,  almost 
archaic,  sound;  indeed,  there  is  rather  a  widely  diffused  ignorance 
of  the  fact  that  Mrs.  is  an  abbreviation  of  "  Mistress,"  which,  in 
its  strict  signification,  is  properly  applied  to  any  woman,  mar- 
ried or  single,  who  is  at  the  head  of  a  household.  In  its  more 
familiar  modern  sense,  the  word  is  never  used  as  a  title,  and  never 
abbreviated. 


166  ABBREVIATIONS 

and")  is  used  —  again  except  in  quoted  matter 
—  only  in  the  established  names  of  firms  or  cor- 
porations.1 

As  to  the  forms  &c.  and  etc.  —  the  former  is 
never  used  in  the  text.  The  latter  is  avoided 
wherever  possible,  being  replaced  by  "and  so 
forth,"  "and  so  on,"  "and  the  like,"  or  some  simi- 
lar phrase. 

On  this  subject  Mr.  Cobbett  reaches  the  right 
conclusion,  although  his  logic  is  not  beyond  re- 
proach. "  Instead  of  the  word  and,  you  often  see 
people  put  &.  For  what  reason  I  should  like  to 
know.  But  to  this  &  is  sometimes  added  a  c:  thus, 
&c.  And  is,  in  Latin,  et,  and  c  is  the  first  letter  of 
the  Latin  word  catera,  which  means  the  like,  or  so 
on. 2  Therefore  this  &c.  means  and  the  like  or  and 
so  on.  This  abbreviation  of  a  foreign  word  is  a 
most  convenient  thing  for  such  writers  as  have 
too  much  indolence  or  too  little  sense  to  say  fully 
and  clearly  what  they  ought  to  say.  If  you  mean 
to  say  and  the  like,  or,  and  so  on,  why  not  say  it? 
This  abbreviation  is  very  frequently  made  use  of 
without  the  writer  having  any  idea  of  its  import. 
A  writer  on  grammar  says:  'When  these  words 
are  joined  to  if,  since,  &c.,  they  are  adverbs!' 
But  where  is  the  like  of  if,  or  of  since?  The  best 

1  In  printing  such  names,  care  should  be  taken  to  obtain  the 
correct  form.  It  is  especially  annoying  to  publishers  to  be  "called 
out  of  their  names." 

1  His  definition  of  catera  leaves  something  to  be  desired. 


ABBREVIATIONS  167 

way  to  guard  yourself  against  the  committing  of 
similar  errors  is  never  to  use  this  abbreviation."1 

It  seems  not  worth  while  to  cumber  these  pages 
with  lists  of  the  "authorized"  abbreviations  of 
the  titles  of  the  books  of  the  Bible  and  of  the 
names  of  the  states,  all  of  which  are  ordinarily 
printed  in  full  in  the  text,  and  of  proper  names,  of 
which  abbreviated  forms  are  often  used,  especially 
in  dialogue  and  in  letters.  As  to  the  latter,  how- 
ever, it  may  be  said  that  one  cannot  safely  assume 
that,  because  a  man  is  called  "Tom,"  or  "Joe,"  or 
"  Fred,"  or  by  some  other  petit  nom,  his  real  name 
is  Thomas,  or  what-not.  An  examination  of  the 
Congressional  Directory,  say,  or  of  the  Harvard 
Quinquennial,  will  disclose  some  curious  facts  in 
this  connection — even  that  some  persons ' '  carry ' ' 
a  middle  initial  which  apparently  stands  for  noth- 
ing, not  being  followed  by  a  period.2 

Abbreviations  are  used  freely  in  footnotes. 
This  is  a  matter  in  which  it  is  quite  hopeless  to  ex- 
pect uniformity  of  treatment  on  the  part  of  the 
author ;  so  that  it  is  peculiarly  within  the  province 
of  the  proof-reader,  under  the  general  guidance  of 
the  author  in  technical  matters. 

*  English  Grammar,  edition  of  1906,  p.  83. 

*  Within  a  comparatively  few  years,  a  United  States  Senator 
from  a  Southern  state  bore  the  historic-sounding  name  of  "Jeff" 
Davis;  but  his  baptismal  name  fell  short  of  its  promise  in  the  mat- 
ter of  orthography,  being  "Jeff"  tout  court.  For  the  use  or  omis- 
sion of  the  period  in  certain  abbreviated  forms,  see  the  section  on 
the  "Period,"  supra. 


CAPITALIZATION 

A  COMPARISON  of  the  so-called  rules  for  capi- 
talization given  in  different  manuals,  handbooks, 
etc.,  varying  from  a  dozen  or  fifteen  to  three-score 
(there  are  fifty-seven  in  the  "  Manual  of  Style  "  is- 
sued by  the  University  of  Chicago  Press) ,  makes 
it  evident  enough  that,  except  in  those  cases  as 
to  which  no  one  requires  instruction,1  the  use 
of  capital  letters  is  largely  a  matter  of  taste  — 
sometimes  of  the  author's  taste,  but  often  of  the 
printer's.  To  cover  every  conceivable  case,  the 
rules  must  necessarily  be  so  numerous  that  com- 
positors cannot  be  expected  to  carry  them  in  their 
heads;  nor  is  it  possible,  within  reasonable  limits 
of  space,  so  to  frame  them  that  the  time  spent  in 
consulting  them  can  be  depended  on  to  yield  satis- 
factory results.  So  that  copy  should  be  prepared 
with  special  care  in  this  respect  —  by  the  author 
if  he  has  definite  wishes  and  would  have  them  re- 
spected ;  by  the  editor  of  the  copy,  in  an  endeavor 
to  ensure  consistency,  at  least;  and  the  proof- 
reader should  see  to  it  that  such  consistency  is 
attained. 

1  For  instance,  that  a  period  is  always  followed  by  a  capital, 
that  proper  names  begin  with  capitals,  as  does  each  line  in  poetry; 
and  that  the  nominative  singular  of  the  first  personal  pronoun,  I, 
is  always  a  capital;  also,  the  interjection,  O. 


CAPITALIZATION  169 

A  great  number  of  the  rules  to  which  reference 
has  been  made  deal  with  scientific  terms  —  geo- 
logical epochs,  names  of  botanical  or  zoological 
genera  and  species,  and  the  like  —  as  to  which  the 
usage  of  scholars  is  pretty  well  fixed ;  and  in  books 
or  articles  dealing  chiefly  with  such  subjects,  the 
author  should  be  requested  to  look  carefully  to 
the  proper  distribution  of  capitals  in  the  copy,  and 
the  copy  should  then  be  followed. 

Another  category  consists  of  geographical 
terms.  There  is  a  long  list,  which  it  is  hardly  pos- 
sible to  make  all-inclusive,  of  words  like  Bay, 
Mountain,  Cape,  River,  Strait,  and  the  rest,  as  to 
which  an  intelligent  proof-reader  needs  no  instruc- 
tion. One  can  hardly  conceive  of  Atlantic  ocean, 
Mississippi  river,  Hudson's  bay,  mount  Washing- 
ton, the  isthmus  of  Panama,. or  Long  island,  out- 
side the  columns  of  the  daily  newspaper,1  even 
in  the  absence  of  a  rule  that  such  words  are  to  be 
capitalized.  Another  list,  as  to  which  usage  is 
equally  well  established,  includes  the  names  of  the 
great  divisions  of  the  earth's  surface,  and  of  dis- 
tinct regions  or  districts:  Western  Hemisphere, 
Arctic  Circle,  North  Pole,  Torrid  Zone,  Equator, 
Great  Divide,  Northwestern  Territory. 

Still  another  category  includes  both  historical 
and  political  designations  for  alliances,  parties, 

i  It  may  be  well  to  say,  once  for  all,  that  newspaper  "  style  "  is 
not  regarded  as  authority  in  "  polite  book  and  magazine  circles." 


170  CAPITALIZATION 

classes,  movements,  religious  denominations, 
schools  of  philosophy  and  art.  Also  the  estab- 
lished titles,  official  or  unofficial,  of  civic,  military, 
religious,  educational,  social,  commercial,  and  in- 
dustrial organizations  and  institutions. 

As  to  all  the  above,  it  is  believed  to  be  the  bet- 
ter course  to  leave  possible  doubtful  cases  to  be 
decided  as  they  arise,  rather  than  to  attempt  the 
hopeless  task  of  making  lists  that  will  not  leave 
even  more  cases  in  doubt. 

The  few  rules  given  below  prescribe  the  usage 
intended  to  be  followed  in  the  "Atlantic"  and  in 
all  Atlantic  books,  as  to  cases  in  which  the  gen- 
eral usage  is  not  uniform.  Except  when  contrary 
directions  are  given,  it  is  to  be  understood  that 
capitals  are  to  be  used  in  the  cases  specified. 

It  may  be  said,  generally,  that  British  writers 
use  capitals  much  more  freely  than  is  usual  in 
this  country.  It  is  equally  true  that  the  French 
use  them  more  sparingly;  and  in  translations  the 
better  practice  is  to  follow  French  usage  where 
it  can  be  done  without  offense:  for  example,  to 
print  "rue  Royale,"  "place  de  Greve";  but  not, 
"marshal  Foch,"  or  "the  american  army." 

I.  After  introductory  words  introducing  a  di- 
rect quotation. 

In  that  great  sense  —  "La  donna  e  mobile,"  not 
"Qual  pium'  al  vento;"  no,  nor  yet  "Variable  as  the 
shade,  by  the  light  quivering  aspen  made."  —  RUSKIN. 


CAPITALIZATION  171 

She  sent  word  off  to  Lady  Dunstane :  "You  know  the 
interest  I  have  always  taken  in  dear  Constance,"  etc. 
—  MEREDITH. 

But  quoted  phrases,  or  clauses,  when  introduced 
as  part  of  a  sentence,  may  properly  begin  with  a 
small  letter.  As  in  the  continuation  of  the  above, 

.  .  .  inviting  her  to  come  on  a  visit  .  .  .  that  she 
might  join  in  the  ceremony  of  a  wedding  "likely  to  be 
the  grandest  of  our  time." 

To  put  the  difficulty  into  a  clear  shape,  and  exhibit 
to  you  the  grounds  for  indecision,  that  is  all  they  gen- 
erally do  for  you !  —  and  well  for  them  and  for  us,  if 
indeed  they  are  able  "to  mix  the  music  with  our 
thoughts,  and  sadden  us  with  heavenly  doubts."  — 
RUSKIN. 

2.  Titles,  official,  professional,  or  honorary, 
used  with  or  without  the  name  of  the  holder,  to 
designate  a  particular  ruler,  pontiff,  chief  magis- 
trate, or  high  official,  past  or  present. 

The  King  opened  Parliament  in  person. 

The  President  conferred  to-day  with  several  Repub- 
lican Senators. 

The  Prime  Minister  appeared  in  the  House  to-day 
for  the  first  time  since  his  return  from  the  Conference. 

The  Pope  has  addressed  a  letter  to  all  the  belliger- 
ents, urging  some  sort  of  a  conference  with  a  view  to  a 
cessation  of  hostilities. 

The  committee  of  the  Cabinet  consists  of  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  the  Attorney-General,  and  the  Post- 
master General. 


172  CAPITALIZATION 

But 

The  position  of  the  president  of  the  United  States 
is  more  akin  to  that  of  the  prime  minister  of  Great 
Britain  than  to  that  of  the  king. 

Since  1870,  no  pope  has  ever  left  the  Vatican. 

Under  our  form  of  government  the  secretary  of 
state,  postmaster-general  and  other  cabinet  officers  are 
mere  department  heads  and  have  no  responsibility  for 
the  policies  of  the  administration. 

The  titles  of  lesser  dignitaries  (governor,  mayor, 
prefect,  minister,  justice,  and  the  like)  should  not 
be  capitalized  when  used  without  the  name,  unless 
special  prominence  is  given  to  a  particular  person, 
as  often  in  fiction  and  in  biographical  works.  This 
further  exception  is  to  be  noted :  in  the  salutatory 
clause  of  a  letter,  print:  "My  dear  Governor"', 
and  in  the  introductory  words  of  an  address: "  Mr. 
Mayor,  ladies  and  gentlemen" 

Titles,  or  forms  of  address,  attached,  by  law  or 
custom,  to  certain  offices  or  dignities:  "His  Maj- 
esty" "Her  Grace"  "  Your  Excellency  "  "Your 
Honor" 

3.  Words  indicating  relationship,  only  when 
used  with  the  name  of  the  person,  and  without  a 
possessive  pronoun. 

I  looked  up  and  saw  Uncle  John. 
But 

He  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to  his  father. 
The  next  to  arrive  was  my  aunt  Mary. 


CAPITALIZATION  173 

4.  Of  the  particles  (prepositions)  which  form  a 
part  of  many  foreign  names,  Van  (Dutch)  is  al- 
ways capitalized,  von  (German),  de  (French),  and 
di  (Italian),  never,  whether  with  or  without  a 
Christian  name. 

Jan  Van  Eyck;  that  particular  portrait  was  painted 
by  Van  Eyck. 

Guy  de  Maupassant;  at  the  head  of  all  short-story 
writers  stands  de  Maupassant. 

Prince  von  Bismarck,  by  his  manipulation  of  the 
famous  Ems  despatch,  really  brought  on  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War. 

Not  long  after  the  outbreak  of  the  Great  War,  von 
Moltke  was  replaced  by  von  Falkenhayn  as  chief  of  the 
German  General  Staff. 

Gabriel  d'Annunzio ;  among  the  well-known  men  who 
took  service  in  the  Italian  Aviation  was  d'Annunzio. 

In  the  great  stream  of  books  and  articles  relat- 
ing to  the  late  war,  special  care  must  be  given  to 
these  names,  as  the  particles  are  used  or  omitted 
without  regard  to  uniformity.  It  may  make  little 
practical  difference  whether  one  writes  Moltke,  or 
Von  Moltke,  or  von  Moltke;  but  the  same  form 
should,  at  least,  be  used  through  an  article. 

5.  Ministry,  Administration,  Cabinet,  and  Gov- 
ernment when  referring  to  an  existing  body  of 
officials  invested  with  administrative,  executive, 
or  advisory  functions ;  but  not  when  used  in  other 
senses,  or  as  referring  to  previous  similar  bodies. 


174  CAPITALIZATION 

The  term  Coalition  should  be  printed  with  a  capi- 
tal always  when  referring  to  a  particular  instance 
of  that  form  of  ministry. 

The  Coalition  Government  is  doing  its  utmost  to 
discredit  Great  Britain  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  world. 

The  Ministry  have  apparently  made  up  their  minds, 
at  last,  to  take  some  steps  in  the  direction  of  righting 
this  flagrant  injustice. 

President  Wilson  met  his  full  Cabinet  to-day  for  the 
first  time  since  his  illness. 

It  has  always  been  the  policy  of  the  United  States 
government  to  hold  itself  aloof  from  any  interference 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Old  World. 

The  cabinet,  as  such,  has  no  legal  status.  Only  the 
individuals  who  compose  it  are  amenable  for  their 
official  acts. 

The  names  of  government  departments  and 
bureaus,  and  of  high  administrative,  legislative, 
and  judicial  bodies:  The  State  Department,  the  Bu- 
reau of  Immigration,  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  the  Congress, 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States. 

But  the  words,  department,  bureau,  commission, 
committee,  court,  when  used  without  specific  desig- 
nation, should  not  be  capitalized ;  nor  should  legis- 
lature (of  the  states) ;  or  house  or  senate,  except  in 
speaking  of  the  branches  of  the  supreme  legislative 
body  in  any  country. 

6.  Church  and  State,  when  used  in  apposition, 


CAPITALIZATION  175 

to  denote  respectively  the  religious  and  political 
organizations,  whether  of  the  whole  world,  or  of  a 
particular  country. 

Church  when  it  is  part  of  the  name,  either  of  a 
religious  denomination,  or  of  a  building ;  the  Church 
of  Latter -Day  Saints,  the  Old  South  Church. 

Cathedral  and  Chapel,  as  part  of  the  name  of 
a  religious  edifice;  as  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the 
Divine;  the  Chapel  Royal. 

The  States  (meaning  the  United  States),  the 
States  of  the  Church,  the  Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts, the  State  of  New  York,  etc. 

But  state  or  states  (not  meaning  the  whole 
country),  and  commonwealth,  when  not  accom- 
panied by  the  name,  are  not  capitalized. 

NOTE.  —  Commonwealth,  standing  alone,  is  capitalized  only 
when  it  refers  to  the  government  of  England  under  Cromwell. 

7.  Empire,  Kingdom,  Republic,  when  part  of 
a  name;  also,  when  standing  alone  as  represent- 
ing a  particular  government.  Also,  the  Dominion 
(Canada),  the  Union  (United  States  or  South 
Africa). 

8.  Well-established  names  for  particular  peri- 
ods or  epochs:  as  the  Renaissance,  the  Dark  Ages, 
the  Crusades  (the  period  or  the  expeditions),  the 
Inquisition  (the  period  or  the  institution),  the 
Restoration  (in  England,  of  the  Stuarts;  in  France, 
of  the  Bourbons). 

9.  The  accepted  descriptive  names  of  wars :  the 


176  CAPITALIZATION 

Wars  of  the  Roses,  the  Peloponnesian  War,  the  Civil 
War,  the  Franco-Prussian  War. 

Among  the  various  titles  that  have  been  given 
to  the  late  conflict,  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment is  said  to  have  decided,  officially,  upon  the 
World  War,  which  should  be  capitalized. 

The  names  of  important  congresses,  confer- 
ences, councils,  or  other  political  assemblages, 
for  whatever  purpose  convoked:  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  National  Demo- 
cratic Convention. 

Also  the  treaties  or  agreements  by  which  wars 
have  been  ended,  or  suspended :  the  Peace  of  Amiens, 
the  Convention  of  Closter -seven,  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht, 
the  Peace  Conference  at  Paris.  The  Armistice  (of 
November,  1918)  is  generally  capitalized. 

Also  titles  of  important  charters,  documents, 
statutes:  Magna  Charta,  the  Bill  of  Rights,  the 
Constitution  (of  the  United  States  or  France,  but 
not  of  the  individual  states),  the  Bull  Unigenitus, 
the  Oath  of  the  Tennis- Court,  the  Statute  of  Frauds. 
10.  East  and  West  (also  Orient  and  Occident) 
as  the  two  great  general  sections  of  the  world. 

Oh!  East  is  East  and  West  is  West,  and  never  the 

twain  shall  meet, 
Till  Earth  and  Sky  stand  presently  at  God's  great 

Judgment  Seat. 

East,  West,  North,  and  South,  etc.,  when  indicat- 
ing one  portion  of  a  country  (particularly  of  the 


CAPITALIZATION  177 

United  States)  as  distinguished  from,  or  con- 
trasted with,  another  portion.  Eastern,  Western, 
etc.,  when  used  with  the  name  of  a  country  or 
region,  with  some  other  connotation  than  mere 
geographical  position. 

11.  All  words  standing  for  the  Deity,  or  for 
one  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinity ; l  the  Bible, 
and  all  synonyms  therefor  (the  adjective  Biblical, 
but  not  scriptural);  the  accepted  titles  of  para- 
bles, and  of  familiar  precepts  from  the  Bible; 
creeds  and  confessions  of  faith. 

The  names  of  the  sacred  books  of  other  faiths: 
as  Koran,  Talmud. 

The  Devil,  Satan,  the  Evil  One,  etc.,  when  ap- 
plied to  the  being  supposed  to  personify  evil ;  but 
not  when  used  as  expletives. 

Nature  and  Fortune,  when  personified  and  used 
in  connection  with  the  personal  pronouns  "she," 
or  "her." 

12.  Both  elements  of  a  hyphenated  title,  when 
the  first  element  is  capitalized :  Attorney-General, 
Provost- Marshal. 

13.  Generally  speaking,  only  nouns  and  adjec- 
tives in  the  title  of  books  and  plays.  The  article 
"  the  "  is  not  usually  included  as  a  part  of  the  title ; 
and  that  article  is  frequently,  but  erroneously, 

1  The  nominative  and  accusative  of  the  personal  pronoun  — 
He  and  Him,  Thou  and  Thee  —  are  capitalized  in  this  connection, 
but  not  the  possessives,  his  and  thine. 

13 


178  CAPITALIZATION 

used  instead  of  "a"  in  such  familiar  titles  as  "A 
Tale  of  Two  Cities,"  "A  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream." 

NOTE.  —  The  late  war  has  brought  into  frequent  use  a  great 
number  of  words,  as  to  the  capitalization  or  non-capitalization 
of  which  usage  is  still  in  a  very  fluid  state,  the  tendency  being 
to  capitalize  many  of  them  because  of  their  immediate  prom- 
inence in  the  flood  of  literature  relating  to  the  war.  The  tend- 
ency should,  we  think,  be  resisted ;  but  at  present  one  can  only 
deal  with  them  as  they  appear. 


ITALICS 

THERE  is  not  much  that  need  be  said  as  to  the 
use  of  italic  type,  either  in  the  "Atlantic"  itself  or 
in  Atlantic  books. 

1.  In  the  magazine,  titles  of  books,  pamphlets, 
and  periodicals  are  set  in  italic,  both  in  the  text 
and  in  footnotes.    In  Atlantic  books  they  are  so 
set  only  in  footnotes;  in  the  text  they  are  set  in 
roman  and  quoted. 

2.  Foreign  words  and  phrases  are  ordinarily 
italicized,  unless  they  are  of  such  frequent  occur- 
rence as  to  be  practically  naturalized  in  English. 

Your  Kater-Gefuhl,  however,  in  your  second  letter, 
about  your  Auslassungen  on  the  subject  of  Wundt, 
amused  me  by  its  speedy  evolution  into  Auslassungen 
more  animated  still.  —  W.  JAMES. 

Our  children  would  term  it  "calling  names."  Me- 
f6di  and  Annushka  would  probably  call  it  rugdnie.  — 
E.  BONTA. 

.  .  .  his  great  glory  is  that  he  pretended  to  take  cog- 
nizance of  man's  moral  nature  to  its  deepest,  most  un- 
influenced, and,  as  the  French  say,  most  scabreux 
depths.  —  H.  JAMES. 

When  constantly  kept  there,  night  after  night,  it 
made  this  curious  diver ticulum.  —  A.  W.  HOWLETT. 


i8o  ITALICS 

Balzac  was  the  hardest  and  deepest  of  prosateurs;  the 
earth-scented  facts  of  life,  which  the  poets  put  under 
their  feet,  he  had  put  above  his  head.  —  H.JAMES. 

Making  all  allowance  for  the  pressure  and  tyranny 
of  circumstances,  we  may  believe  that  if  he  had 
greatly  cared  to  se  recueilHr,  as  the  French  say  .  .  . 
he  would  sometimes  have  found  an  opportunity  for 
it.  —  H.  JAMES. 

The  italics  are  intended,  of  course,  to  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  word  or  phrase  in  question 
has  not  been  "anglicized,"  as  the  phrase  goes; 
consequently,  if  quotes  are  used  for  the  same  pur- 
pose, the  italics  are  not  needed.  When,  however, 
the  word  or  phrase  is  put  in  somebody's  mouth, 
there  seems  to  be  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be 
italicized,  the  quotes  being  then  used  for  another 
purpose. 

It  is  so  difficult  as  to  be  almost  impossible  to 
draw  the  line  between  foreign  words  and  phrases 
that  have  been  anglicized  and  those  that  have  not 
been.  The  lists  given  in  the  various  style  books 
and  manuals  do  not  always  agree;  for  example, 
the  "  Handbook  of  Style"  issued  by  the  Riverside 
Press  includes  in  its  list  of  words  not  to  be  itali- 
cized —  a  list  substantially  identical  with  that 
given  in  the  "  Manual  of  Style  "  of  the  University 
of  Chicago  Press  —  the  following,  all  of  which  Mr. 
Booth,  in  his  "  Practical  Guide  for  Authors,"  pub- 
lished by  the  same  house,  bids  us  print  in  italic: 


ITALICS  181 

confrere,  cortege,  elite,  habitue,  mttee,  resume,  tHe-a- 
t&te,  and  vis-a-vis.1  Furthermore,  both  these  au- 
thorities confuse  matters  by  unnecessarily  includ- 
ing in  their  lists  of  words  not  to  be  italicized 
certain  ones  as  to  which  it  is  hardly  possible  to 
conceive  of  any  question  arising,  although  they 
are,  to  be  sure,  of  foreign  extraction:  alibi,  bas- 
relief,  bouquet,  bulletin,  connoisseur,  criterion,  data, 
diarrhoea,  doctrinaire,  ennui,  etiquette,  facsimile, 
innuendo,  manoeuvre,  massage,  memorandum,  menu, 
naive,  niche,  omnibus,  prestige,  rendezvous,  rdle, 
seraglio,  sobriquet.  (Some  of  these  are  to  be  found 
in  one  list,  some  in  the  other,  and  some  in  both.) 

No  list  is  offered  here,  for  the  reason  that  ordin- 
ary usage  is  so  fluctuating  and  uncertain,  and  the 
preferences  of  authors  are  so  divergent,  that  we 
can  scarcely  hope  to  make  rules  that  would  not  be 
frequently  broken. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  automobile,  the  words 
which  it  brought  into  use  —  chauffeur,  tonneau, 
chassis,  and  all  the  rest  —  were  naturally  printed 
in  italics;  and  it  was  the  same  with  the  aeroplane 
— fuselage,  for  example.  But  all  these  words  have 
been  taken  over  into  English,  and  all  are  al- 
most invariably  printed  in  roman  to-day.  More 

1  It  should  be  said  that  Mr.  Booth's  list  is  taken  from  Mr.  Hart's 
Rules  for  Compositors  and  Readers,  already  referred  to,  and  so,  of 
course,  gives  the  English  practice;  but  there  seems  to  be  no  reason 
for  any  variance  in  this  regard  between  English  and  American 
printers. 


i82  ITALICS 

recently,  we  have  had  the  same  experience  with 
the  new  vocabulary  of  the  war :  camouflage,  which 
had  to  be  italicized  for  our  instruction  five  or  six 
years  ago,  would  have  a  queer  look  in  that  type 
to-day. 

Such  words  as  we  have  been  last  considering, 
if  italicized  once,  are  —  or  should  be  —  italicized 
always.  But  the  practice  is  different  when  words 
so  unmistakably  foreign  that  no  question  can 
arise  as  to  their  being  proper  subjects  for  italics 
are  used  more  than  once.  In  such  cases,  it  is 
Atlantic  usage  to  print  them  in  roman  after  the 
first  time.  For  example,  in  Mr.  Bonta's  story, 
from  which  a  passage  is  quoted  above,  the  word 
rugdnie  is  used  again  and  again,  but  is  italicized 
only  once. 

It  is  not  customary  to  print  in  italic  passages 
from  foreign  languages  that  contain  a  subject  and 
predicate,  no  matter  how  short  they  may  be;  and 
in  conversation,  in  which  one  or  more  of  the  inter- 
locutors occasionally  "drop  into"  a  foreign  ver- 
nacular, only  single  words  or  phrases  —  inter jec- 
tional  or  otherwise:  as  C'est  bien,  mon  Dieu!  and 
so  forth  —  are  italicized.  But  if,  in  a  translation, 
a  passage  is  left  in  the  original,  untranslated,  it  is 
better  to  italicize  the  whole  passage ;  as  in  the  fol- 
lowing translations  of  portions  of  Balzac's  letters. 

I  must  go  over  things,  correct  them  again,  put  every- 
thing d  Vetat  monumental.  —  H.  JAMES. 


ITALICS  183 

The  first  lived  on  the  blood  of  Europe ;  il  s'est  inocuU 
des  armies.  • — •  H.  JAMES. 

'  Decidedly,  I  will  send  to  Tours  for  the  Louis  XVI 
secretary  and  bureau ;  the  room  will  then  be  complete. 
It's  a  matter  of  a  thousand  francs;  but  for  a  thousand 
francs  what  can  one  get  in  modern  furniture?  Des 
platitudes  bourgeoises,  des  miseres  sans  valeur  et  sans 
gout.  —  H.  JAMES. 

3.  There  are  certain  abbreviations,  mainly  of 
Latin  words,  as  to  which  there  is  some  conflict  of 
authority  regarding  the  proper  type  to  be  used. 
The  more  familiar  ones  are:  e.g.,  i.e.,  et  seq.,  ibid., 
id.  (idem),  cit.,  ubi  sup.  (ubi  supra),  loc.  tit.,  v. 
(vide),  cf.,  cp.,  vs.  (versus).   All  of  these  are  kept 
out  of  the  text,  both  of  the  magazine  and  of  Atlan- 
tic books  (except  in  quoted  matter),  and  when 
used  in  footnotes  are  always  italicized.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  sometimes  used  unabbreviated  forms 
of  certain  ones  of  them,  which  are  put  in  paren- 
theses above;  also,  of  circa  and  infra.    On  the 
other  hand,  etc.,  viz.,  inst.,  prox.,  and  ult.  are  al- 
ways set  in  roman. 

4.  Italics  are  frequently  used  to  give  emphasis 
to  certain  words.  It  goes  without  saying  that  some 
writers  are  much  more  addicted  to  this  practice 
than  others,  and  it  is  perhaps  not  unfair  to  say 
that  it  is  particularly  affected  by  a  certain  type  of 
"lady  novelist,"  as  the  habit  of  underscoring 
many  words  in  a  letter  is  supposed  to  be  charac- 
teristic of  female  correspondents.   But  with  such 


i84  ITALICS 

we  are  not  concerned.  An  author,  of  course,  is  the 
best  judge  of  the  words  to  which  he  wishes  to 
lend  special  emphasis,  and  the  function  of  the 
proof-reader  and  editor  is  confined  to  making 
sure,  when  possible,  that  the  author's  wishes  are 
understood  and  respected  —  a  thing  much  less 
difficult  with  respect  to  books,  which  always  have 
the  benefit  of  the  author's  revision,  than  with  re- 
spect to  articles  in  a  magazine,  proofs  of  which 
do  not  always  go  outside  the  office. 

I  am  not  going  abroad ;  I  can't  afford  it.  ...  I  have 
a  heavy  year  of  work  next  year,  and  shall  very  likely 
need  to  go  the  following  summer.  —  W.  JAMES. 

I  can  find  nothing  sharp  ...  on  the  different  de- 
grees of  "liveliness"  in  hypotheses  concerning  the  uni- 
verse, or  distinguish  a  priori  between  legitimate  and 
illegitimate  cravings.  And  when  an  hypothesis  is  once 
a  live  one,  one  risks  something  in  one's  practical  rela- 
tions toward  truth  and  error,  whichever  of  the  three 
positions  .  .  .  one  may  take  up  towards  it.  The  indi- 
vidual himself  is  the  only  rightful  chooser  of  his  own  risk. 
—  W.  JAMES. 

"It's  all  I  can  do  to  keep  track  of  our  makes,"  was 
the  answer,  "without  looking  after  your  back  num- 
bers." —  KIPLING. 

.  .  .  the  best  ideas  on  every  matter  that  literature 
touches,  current  at  the  time  ...  I  say  current  at  the 
time,  not  merely  accessible  at  the  time.  —  ARNOLD. 

France  and  England  literally,  observe,  buy  panic  of 
each  other;  they  pay,  each  of  them,  for  ten  thousand 
pounds  worth  of  terror,  a  year.  —  RUSKIN. 


ITALICS  185 

But  how,  you  will  ask,  is  the  idea  of  this  guiding 
function  of  the  woman  reconcilable  with  a  true  wifely 
subjection?  Simply  in  that  it  is  a  guiding,  not  a  deter- 
mining function.  —  RUSKIN. 

But  if  you  want  copper  stock,  say  of  C.  &  H.  quality, 
when  you  want  it,  and  are  bound  to  have  it,  then  you 
must  command  more  than  a  college  professor's  salary. 
—  D.  L.  SHARP. 

"What  do  you  eat?"  she  asked. 

"Three  hearty  meals  a  day,"  I  answered. 

"Not  breakfast  I  .  .  .  Why,  St.  George  Dreamer 
never  takes  more  than  three  drops  of  brandy  on  a  lump 
of  sugar  in  the  morning."  —  M.  P.  MONTAGUE. 

Finally  one  of  the  others  said,  "And  what  happened 
then?" 

She  answered,  in  a  sepulchral  tone,  "He  spat  I"  — 
LEIGHTON  PARKS. 

Men  are  forever  talking  about  "faith,"  as  if  the  im- 
portant thing  were  the  quantity  of  it,  whereas  the  thing 
that  matters  is  its  quality.  —  LEIGHTON  PARKS.1 

1  See  the  section  on  "  Quotation  Marks  "  for  the  occasional  use  of 
italics  with  what  may  be  called  supposititious  or  quasi-quotations. 


SPELLING 

IN  the  matter  of  orthography,  the  "Atlantic" 
still  adheres  to  the  earlier  tradition  of  the  River- 
side Press,  where  it  was  printed  for  so  many  years. 
The  orthographic  style  of  that  establishment  is 
known  as  "modified  Webster";  that  is  to  say,  in 
those  cases  where  there  is  equal  authority  for  dif- 
ferent ways  of  spelling  a  word,  the  form  preferred 
by  the  editors  of  Webster's  Dictionary  —  now 
known,  in  its  most  elaborate  development,  as  the 
"International"  —  is  followed  except  in  certain 
specified  words.  The  phrase  "earlier  tradition "  is 
used  because,  within  a  few  years,  Riverside  has 
reduced  the  list  of  exceptions  by  adopting  the 
"Webster"  spelling  of  the  class  of  words  of  which 
centre  (center)  and  theatre  (theater)  are  the  most 
common  examples;  whereas  the  "Atlantic"  con- 
tinues to  use  the  termination  re. 

In  but  two  other  respects,  we  believe,  does  the 
"Atlantic"  venture  to  disregard  the  tradition:  we 
make  a  distinction  between  the  noun  practice  and 
the  corresponding  verb  by  spelling  the  latter  with 
5  instead  of  c;  and  we  differentiate  between  ensure, 
to  make  certain,  to  make  sure  (as  to  ensure  one's 
safety,  and  the  like),  and  insure,  to  protect,  or 


SPELLING 


187 


indemnify,  against  loss,  whether  in  a  technical  or 
in  a  figurative  sense. 

The  following  list  contains  the  words  which,  ex- 
cept in  quoted  matter,  are  spelled  otherwise  than 
according  to  the  forms  preferred  by  the  Interna- 
tional Dictionary. 


Accoutre,  accoutred, 

accoutring1 
Adze 

Amphitheatre 
Anaesthesia 
Asafcetida 
Axe 

Aye  (  =  yes) 
Baritone 
Bastille 
Bogey 
Boulder 
Bourgeon 
Calibre 

Centre  (noun  and  verb) 
Clue 

Cyclopaedia 
Diarrhoea 
Ensure  (to  make 

certain) 
Entrust 
Faecal 


Faeces 

Fibre 

Fibred 

Foetus 

Glycerine 

Good-bye 

Gramme  2 

Gruesome 

Homoeopathy 

Litre 

Lustre 

Manoeuvre  (noun 

and  verb) 
Maugre 
Meagre 
Mediaeval 
Metre  * 
Mitre 
Moult 
Mould 
Moustache 
Nitre 


1  The  past  tense  and  present  participle  of  all  other  verbs  ending 
in  re  in  this  list  are  formed  on  these  models. 

1  Also,  kilogramme,  etc. 

1  Also  kilometre,  millimetre,  etc.  But  meter,  an  instrument  for 
measuring,  as  -water-meter,  and  the  like. 


188  SPELLING 

Ochre  Sabre 

Orthopaedic  Saltpetre 

Pickaxe  Sepulchre 

Plough  (noun  and  verb)  Sepulchred 

Practise  (verb)  Sextette 

Practised  (adjective  and  Smoulder 

participle)  Sombre 

Programme  Spectre 

Quartette  Squirearchy 

Quintette  Syrup 

Reconnoitre  Theatre 

Reinforce  Whiskey 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  assert  any  logical  basis 
for  these  orthographic  preferences,  or,  indeed,  for 
any  system  of  orthography  thus  far  devised.  (It 
is  possible  to  find  inconsistencies  even  in  the  re- 
commendations of  the  advocates  of  "simplified 
spelling."1)  One  knows  that  some  —  perhaps 
many  —  of  the  forms  preferred  by  the  editors  of 
the  International  are,  literally,  preferred  by  indi- 
viduals. It  is  hard  to  see  why  the  unanswerable 
logic  that  demands  defense  and  offense  instead  of 
defence  and  offence,  because  of  the  Latin  forms 
from  which  they  are  derived,  does  not,  eadem 
ratione,  insist  upon  medieval. 

There  are  those  who  would  "prefer"  to  disre- 
gard the  artificial  rule  adopted  by  the  Interna- 

i  Mr.  De  Morgan,  in  the  last  of  his  posthumously  published 
novels,  The  Old  Man's  Youth,  observes,  in  one  of  his  numerous 
digressions,  that  he  has  not  yet  discovered  how  "the  phonetic 
school  of  spellers"  proposes  to  distinguish  between  prophet  and 
profit. 


SPELLING  189 

tional  to  the  effect  that  words  ending  in  /,  p,  r,  t . 
(and  perhaps  some  other  letters),  preceded  by  a 
vowel,  double  the  consonant  before  such  termina- 
tions as  ed,  ing,  ous,  only  in  the  case  of  monosylla- 
bles and  of  polysyllabic  words  having  the  accent 
on  the  last  syllable.  For  example :  — 

dispelled,  controller,  controlling,  but  traveled,  raveling, 
marvelous;  transshipped,  equipped,  but  worshiper, 
worshiping;  occurred,  transferring,  but  altered,  festering; 
petted,  abetted,  but  trumpeter,  trumpeted. 

But,  for  the  present,  the  rule  referred  to,  logical 
or  not,  is  followed  in  the  "Atlantic"  and  Atlantic 
books. 

In  these  days,  spelling  seems  to  be  largely  a 
matter  of  "  the  taste  and  fancy  of  the  speller,"  as 
Sam  Weller  said  in  reply  to  the  judge's  question  as 
to  how  he  spelled  his  name.  It  is  doubtful  whether, 
in  any  office,  the  spelling,  even  of  the  International 
Dictionary,  is  followed  with  unvarying  exactness.1 
One  occasionally  falls  in  with  an  author  who  pre- 
fers to  follow  Worcester's  Dictionary,  or  the  Cen- 
tury, or  the  Standard ;  but  such  cases  are  becom- 
ing more  and  more  infrequent,  and  copy  is  very 
seldom  prepared  strictly  in  conformity  with  such 
desire;  so  that,  unless  for  some  specially  cogent 
reason,  the  regular  Atlantic  "  style  "  is  followed  — 
or  intended  to  be  followed  —  in  all  publications 

1  Except,  possibly,  in  the  Government  Printing  Office  at  Wash- 
ington. 


190  SPELLING 

of  the  Atlantic  Monthly  Press,  as  well  as  in  the 
magazine. 

The  appearance  of  one  of  the  numerous  "hand- 
books of  style"  some  years  ago  called  forth,  from 
a  gentleman  of  much  experience  in  typographical 
and  literary  matters,  —  who  might,  perhaps,  be 
called,  in  modern  parlance,  a  "bitter-ender,"  — 
a  letter  to  the  publishers  in  which  the  case  for 
unadulterated  Webster  is  argued  as  strongly  as 
possible.  We  quote  a  few  typical  passages. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  contend  that  it  is  in  any  way 
the  business  or  the  duty  of  American  printers  to  set 
up  as  spelling  reformers,  but  I  do  say  it  is  a  part  of 
their  business  and  duty  to  reflect  in  their  practice  (so 
far  as  they  themselves  control  it  in  regard  to  orthog- 
raphy) the  best  scientific  and  scholastic  thought  of 
the  day. 

The  great  publisher  is  in  truth  the  guardian  of  forces 
that  shall  transmit  unimpaired  to  posterity  the  rich 
literary  legacy  of  the  past,  and  the  trustee  of  powers 
that  make  for  the  advancement  of  the  literary  stand- 
ards of  the  future.  In  our  American  literary  history 
the  improved  spellings  of  Webster  are  a  precious  herit- 
age and  I  am  as  proud  of  them  in  their  place  and  sphere 
as  I  am  of  any  other  American  literary  creation  that  is 
of  permanent  value.  I  cannot  but  regret  with  Mr. 
Howells  that  these  distinctive  spellings  which  were 
used  in  the  earlier  editions  of  Emerson,1  Lowell,  Haw- 

1  Whoever  cares  to  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  early  edi- 
tions of  Emerson  will  wonder  why  he,  at  least,  is  included  in  the 
list.  And  we  feel  quite  sure  that  any  changes  in  the  "  spellings  "  of 
Lowell  and  Hawthorne  have  been  in  the  opposite  direction. 


SPELLING  191 

thorne  and  the  rest  of  the  great  New  England  worthies 
of  the  I  Qth  century  should  have  disappeared  to  any 
extent  whatever  from  the  last  issues.  If  the  process 
goes  on  we  shall,  as  Mr.  Howells  puts  it,  presently 
all  go  to  gaol,  —  and  why  should  we  not,  if  we  content- 
edly go  to  the  theatre? 

I  wish  that  something  might  be  done  to  awaken 
American  publishers  to  what  I  feel  is  their  real  duty 
in  this  matter,  —  to  restore  the  spellings  of  Webster 
to  their  former  place  in  American-made  books,  so  that 
the  process  of  the  rational  development  of  English 
orthography,  of  which  those  spellings  were  the  earliest 
and  most  important  expression  in  modern  times,  may 
have  a  chance  to  go  unhindered  by  powerful  reaction- 
ary influence. 

At  the  other  extreme  we  may  place  the  Rich- 
mond editor  of  whom  Mr.  De  Vinne  says  that  he 
once  "sharply  rebuked  a  new  proof-reader:  'Why 
do  you  strike  out  of  my  proof  the  u  in  honour  and 
the  k  in  musick?  I  plainly  wrote  them  in  my  copy. ' 
The  reader  replied  that  he  had  been  taught  to  fol- 
low the  spelling  of  Webster  and  had  found  it  ac- 
ceptable elsewhere.  'Webster!  never  let  me  hear 
that  name  as  an  authority.  Webster  may  spell 
to  suit  a  Yankee  trader,  but  not  a  Virginia  gen- 
tleman.' '  And  an  honorable  place  should  be 
awarded  a  Boston  gentleman  who,  it  is  said,  when 
his  secretary  spelled  honour  without  the  u,  told 
her  that  she  might  do  it  once,  but  that  a  second 
offense  would  lead  to  her  discharge. 

Midway  between  the  two  comes  a  certain  dis- 


192  SPELLING 

tinguished  and  successful  author  of  our  own  day, 
who  is  intolerant  of  the  practice  of  clinging  to 
the  diphthong  in  (esthetic  and  mediceval,  yet  is 
equally  perturbed  by  the  Websterian  spelling  of 
manoeuvre  —  maneuver.  And  there  is  the  Harvard 
professor  who  wrote  on  a  proof  that  passed  through 
the  present  writer's  hands,  that  it  was  "simply 
illiterate"  to  spell  traveller  and  marvellous  with  a 
single  /. 

One  is  reminded  of  the  remark  attributed  to  the 
late  Professor  William  James:  "  Is  n't  it  abomina- 
ble that  everybody  is  expected  to  spell  the  same 
way?" 

The  writer  of  the  letter  quoted  above  animad- 
verts severely  upon  a  suggestion  made  by  Mr. 
W.  S.  Booth,  in  his  "  Practical  Guide  to  Authors," 
to  this  effect:  "  If  an  author  wishes  his  book  to  be 
sold  to  English  as  well  as  to  American  readers,  a 
sagacious  publisher  will  advise  him  to  use  the  u  in 
spelling  the  words  honour,  colour,  etc. ,  and  to  avoid 
'spelling  reform'  fads."  It  can  be  said  that  the 
Atlantic  Monthly  Press  has  not  as  yet  shown  its 
sagacity  by  adopting  this  suggestion  in  any  of  the 
books  which  it  has  published  in  English  editions. 

The  class  of  words  of  which  honour  and 
colour  are  types  forms  a  very  large  part  of  the 
list  of  "English  spellings."  With  respect  to  such 
words,  one  or  two  points  should  be  noted. 

I.  When  the  termination  ous  is  added,  the  u 


SPELLING  193 

in  the  original  word  is  dropped,  even  in  English 
books:  clamour,  clamorous;  humour,  humorous. 

2.  Glamour  with  the  u  is  preferred  by  all  author- 
ities, American  and  English. 

3.  The  spelling  enamour  is  not  confined  to  Eng- 
land, but  is  preferred  by  Worcester. 

There  is  no  longer  so  sharp  a  distinction  as 
there  once  was  between  English  and  American 
practice  in  the  spelling  of  words  ending  in  ise 
(ize),  in  which  the  consonant  has  the  z  sound.  It 
is  still  more  usual  to  find  the  5  in  all  such  words  in 
the  works  of  English  authors ;  but  the  New  English 
Dictionary,  that  monumental  work,  which  may 
be  regarded  as  the  supreme  authority  on  "English 
spelling,"  authorizes,  and,  in  fact,  adopts,  the  form 
with  2  with  much  liberality.  So  that  the  following 
list  of  words  spelled  only  with  ise  may,  it  is  believed, 
safely  be  followed  in  all  cases. 

Advertise  Demise  Franchise 

Advise  Despise  Improvise 

Affranchise  Devise  Incise 

Appraise  Disfranchise  Merchandise 

Apprise  Disguise  Premise  (verb) 

Chastise  Enfranchise  Reprise 

Circumcise  Enterprise  Revise 

Comprise  Exercise  Supervise 

Compromise  Exorcise  Surmise 

Analyse  and  paralyse  are  preferred  to  analyze 
and  paralyze  by  the  above-mentioned  authority, 
u 


194  SPELLING 

The  following  brief  list  contains  the  words, 
other  than  those  comprised  in  the  two  classes  de- 
scribed, of  which  the  normal  English  spelling  is 
different  from  those  recommended  by  any  Amer- 
ican authority. 

Abridgement  Forgather 

Acknowledgement  Gaol 

Cheque  Grey 

Chequered  Inflexion 

Connexion  Judgement 

Dreamt1  Premiss  (one  of  the 
Faggot  parts  of  a  syllogism) 

Forbears 2  Reflexion 

Forfend  Waggon 

The  question  whether  English  spelling  is  to  be 
used  never  arises  with  regard  to  the  magazine. 
The  numerous  articles  by  British  authors  that 
appear  in  its  pages  are  made  to  conform  to  At- 
lantic style  in  this  regard.  On  the  only  occasion 
within  the  writer's  memory  when  an  author  — 
an  American,  by  the  way  —  insisted  that  certain 
distinctively  English  forms  should  be  retained,  it 
was  thought  advisable  to  insert  a  footnote  to  that 
effect. 

1  Also  the  past  tense  and  past  participle  of  other  verbs  when 
pronounced  as  if  the  final  consonant  were  a  t:  as  leapt,  learnt,  spelt. 
The  past  tense  of  dream  is  commonly  pronounced  in  England,  as 
in  America,  as  if  it  were  spelled  "drempt." 

2  In  the  latest  edition  of  the  International  Dictionary,  this  and 
the  two  words  following  are  spelled  as  in  this  list. 


SPELLING  195 

If  the  Presspublishes  a  book  printed  from  plates 
made  in  Great  Britain,  the  spelling,  of  course,  is 
not  changed.  Other  considerations  than  the  ex- 
pense of  cutting  the  plates  would  prohibit  such  a 
course,  even  if  it  were  otherwise  deemed  advisable. 
But  the  probability  is  strong  that  there  would  be 
no  criticism.  Whether,  if  we  were  setting  up  a  new 
work  by  a  British  author,  he  would  be  "allowed" 
to  spell  as  he  would  naturally  be  inclined  to  do, 
would  probably  depend  upon  how  much  he  cared 
about  it. 

There  are  some  special  words,  or  categories,  the 
form  of  which  is  not  so  much  a  matter  of  lexico- 
graphical authority  or  "correctness,"  as  of  taste. 
In  all  of  them  both  alternative  forms  are  found 
used  almost  indiscriminately  by  many  writers, 
and  the  "Atlantic"  has,  for  uniformity's  sake, 
adopted  one  of  them.  A  list  follows;  in  each  case 
the  form  so  adopted  is  placed  first. 

Afterward,  afterwards. 
Backward,  backwards. 
Forward,  forwards. 
Toward,  towards. 
Amid,  amidst. 
Among,  amongst. 
While,  whilst. 

NOTE.  —  The  first  three  are  adverbs  always,  except  that,  in 
the  terminology  of  some  modern  games,  the  title  of  "forward," 
used  as  a  noun,  is  given  to  the  person  who  plays  in  a  certain  po- 
sition; in  this  sense,  of  course,  it  has  no  place  in  this  discussion. 


196  SPELLING 

Toward  is  sometimes  a  preposition,  sometimes  an  adverb,  and 
sometimes  what  may  be  called  a  predicate  adjective  —  as  in 
such  expressions  as,  "What  is  toward?"  meaning  "What  is 
going  on?"  or  "What's  in  the  wind?"  In  the  latter  sense, 
towards  is  never  used.  Of  the  last  three,  the  second  forms  are 
more  generally  used  by  English  than  by  American  writers.  The 
prohibition  of  amidst  and  amongst  (especially  the  latter)  would 
not  be  rigidly  enforced  by  the  "Atlantic"  if  an  author  should 
especially  desire  to  use  them;  but  there  is  no  distinction  in 
meaning  between  them  and  the  shorter  forms  which  would 
justify  the  use  of  both  in  the  same  article. 

As  between  till  and  until,  no  other  distinction 
can  be  made  than  that  the  former  is  perhaps  more 
appropriate  to  a  lighter  and  less  formal  style. 
But  there  seems  to  be  no  reason  for  the  not  infre- 
quent use  of  '/*/. 


COMPOUND  WORDS » 

IN  the  Introduction  to  the  New  English  Dic- 
tionary, Sir  James  Murray  says:  "  In  many  com- 
binations the  hyphen  becomes  an  expression  of 
unification  of  sense.  When  this  unification  and 
specialization  has  proceeded  so  far  that  we  no 
longer  analyze  the  combination  into  its  elements, 
but  take  it  in  as  a  whole,  as  in  blackberry,  postman, 
newspaper,  pronouncing  it  in  speech  with  a  single 
accent,  the  hyphen  is  usually  omitted,  and  the 
fully  developed  compound  is  written  as  a  single 
word.  But  as  this  also  is  a  question  of  degree, 
there  are  necessarily  many  compounds  as  to  which 
usage  has  not  yet  determined  whether  they  are  to 
be  written  with  the  hyphen  or  as  single  words." 

If  these  remarks  of  one  of  the  greatest  of  all 
authorities  on  such  matters  do  not  sufficiently 
indicate  the  complexity  and  uncertainty  in  which 
the  subject  is  involved,  we  may  quote  Sir  James 
further,  as  follows :  — 

"  There  is  no  rule,  propriety,  or  consensus  of 

1  This  subject  is  discussed  by  most  authorities  under  the  head- 
ing, "  Hyphens  " ;  but  inasmuch  as  one  branch  of  the  subject  has  to 
do  with  the  question  whether  certain  forms  should  be  printed  as  a 
single  solid  word  or  as  two  separate  words,  the  hyphen  not  enter- 
ing into  the  discussion,  the  above  seems  to  be  the  more  appropriate 
heading. 


198  COMPOUND  WORDS 

usage  in  English  for  the  use  or  absence  of  the  hy- 
phen, except  in  cases  where  grammar  or  sense  is 
concerned  [the  italics  are  ours] ;  as  in  a  day  well 
remembered,  but  a  well-remembered  day,  the 
sea  is  of  a  deep  green,  a  deep-green  sea,  a  baby 
little  expected,  a  little-expected  baby." 

These  two  passages  (the  latter  from  the  "School- 
master's Year-Book"  for  1903)  are  quoted  by 
Mr.  Hart,  in  his  "Rules  for  Compositors  and 
Readers,  etc."  (page  23),  perhaps  as  an  explana- 
tion of  his  failure  to  elucidate  the  subject  except 
in  a  very  slight  degree.  "The  hyphen,"  he  says, 
"  need  not,  as  a  rule,  be  used  to  join  one  adverb  to 
the  adjective  which  it  qualifies ;  as  in  .  .  .  'a  well 
calculated  scheme.'  When  the  word  might  not  at 
once  be  recognized  as  an  adverb,  use  the  hyphen : 
as  'a  well-known  statesman.'  ' 

(One  asks  one's  self  in  vain  why  "  well "  cannot 
be  recognized  as  an  adverb  as  readily  in  the  second 
case  as  in  the  first.) 

To  quote  further:  "A  compound  noun  which 
has  but  one  accent,  and  from  familiar  use  has  be- 
come one  word,  requires  no  hyphen."  (But  if 
"from  familiar  use  it  has  become  one  word,"  what 
difference  does  it  make  how  many  accents  it  has?) 

"The  following  should  also  be  printed  as  one 
word."1  The  list  includes  such  words  as  "eye- 

1  Mr.  Hart's  usual  accuracy  is  at  fault  here:  if  this  instruction 
should  be  followed  literally,  we  should  have  "one  word"  made  up 
of  about  seventy-five  compound  words. 


COMPOUND  WORDS  199 

witness,"   which  certainly   has   more  than  one 
accent;  also  "coeval,"  "coexist,"  "coextensive," 
which  belong  in  a  different  category  altogether. 
"  Compound  words  of  more  than  one  accent,  as 

—  ap 'pie-tree',  cher'ry-pie',  grav'el-walk',  will'- 
o'-the-wisp',  as  well  as  others  which  follow,  require 
hyphens."  But  among  the  "others  which  follow" 
are  many  that  have  but  one  accent:  as  "arm- 
chair," "by-law,"  "hill-side,"  and  so  on. 

We  have  quoted  all  that  Mr.  Hart  says  on  this 
subject,  except  two  more  explicit  and  useful  rules 
to  which  we  shall  refer  later.  On  the  other  hand, 
in  the  "Manual  of  Style"  issued  by  the  Chicago 
University  Press,  there  are  no  less  than  thirty 
rules  dealing  with  the  subject. 

To  show  the  hopeless  detail  of  this  treatment, 

—  hopeless,  because,  unless  the  rules  are  faithfully 
committed  to  memory,  the  time  necessary  to  be 
spent  in  looking  up  the  rule  applicable  to  any 
given  case  is  unthinkable,  —  let  us  particularize 
a  little. 

"As  a  general  rule,  compounds  of  'book,' 
'house,'  'mill,'  'room,'  'shop,'  and  'work'  should 
be  printed  as  one  compact  word,  without  a  hy- 
phen, when  the  prefixed  noun  contains  only  one 
syllable,  should  be  hyphenated  when  it  contains 
two,  and  should  be  printed  as  two  separate  words 
when  it  contains  three  or  more." 

A  few  of  the  examples  given  are :  — 


200  COMPOUND  WORDS 

Schoolbook,  pocket-book,  reference  book. 
Boathouse,  engine-house,  business  house.1 
Sawmill,  paper-mill,  chocolate  mill. 
Bedroom,  schoolroom,  lecture-room,  recitation  room. 
Workshop,  bucket-shop,  policy  shop. 
Handwork,  metal-work,  filigree  work. 

But,  "Exceptions  are  rare  combinations,  and 
such  as  for  appearance1  sake  would  better  be 
separated."  (Is  the  compositor  to  be  the  judge 
of  the  rarity  and  the  "appearance"  of  the  com- 
pound?) 

Again:  "Compounds  of  'store'  should  be  hy- 
phenated when  the  prefix  contains  only  one  sylla- 
ble; otherwise  not." 

"  Compounds  of  '  skin '  with  words  of  one  sylla- 
ble are  to  be  printed  as  one  word ;  with  words  of 
more  than  one,  as  two  separate  words." 

"  The  particle  '  non- '  .  .  .  ordinarily  calls  for  a 
hyphen,  except  in  the  commonest  words." 

And  the  subject  is  closed  with  a  list  of  thirty- 
two  compounds  described  thus:  "words  of  every- 
day occurrence  which  should  be  hyphenated,  and 
which  do  not  fall  under  any  of  the  above  classi- 
fications." 

In  the  Riverside  Press  "Handbook,"  the  at- 
tempt to  formulate  rules  is  frankly  abandoned,  in 
favor  of  a  general  reference  to  the  International 
Dictionary. 

1  "  Business  house  "  is  not  a  parallel  case  to  the  others. 


COMPOUND  WORDS  201 

Mr.  Summey :  expresses  in  a  very  few  words  the 
uncertainty  that  surrounds  the  subject:  "Just 
what  shall  be  hyphened  has  to  be  decided  arbi- 
trarily in  part,  because  dictionaries  and  style 
books  do  not  agree."  He  adds,  cautiously,  "Ac- 
cording to  careful  American  practice,  the  import- 
ant classes  of  expressions  which  regularly  or  usu- 
ally [italics  ours]  take  the  compounding  hyphen 
are  (i)  compounds  with  self  in  which  self  is  like  an 
object  and  the  other  part  like  a  verb,  (2)  com- 
pound numerals  like  twenty-six,  (3)  prepositional- 
phrase  compounds  like  son-in-law,  (4)  adjectival 
compounds  of  words  naming  colors  (silver-gray 
tone),  (5)  expressions  in  which  the  hyphen  is 
necessary  to  clearness,  as  in  re-creation  (remaking) 
which  without  the  hyphen  might  be  confused 
with  recreation,  and  (6)  certain  compounds  begin- 
ning with  ex,  pre,  pro,  ultra,  quasi  (ex-governor,  pre- 
Shakespearean,  pro-German,  quasi-compliment).2 
.  .  .  Many  words  like  courthouse,  footnote,  by- 
product are  written  either  solid  or  hyphened. 
Choice  in  such  cases  will  make  little  difference 
save  on  the  score  of  uniformity." 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the  best- 
intentioned  efforts  to  reduce  this  subject  to  order 

1  Modern  Punctuation,  p.  175. 

*  Incidentally  it  may  be  remarked  that  Mr.  Summey's  own 
rules  for  the  use  of  the  semicolon  would  probably  require  that 
point  instead  of  a  comma  before  each  of  the  numerals  in  this 
enumeration. 


202  COMPOUND  WORDS 

result  only  in  rules  riddled  with  exceptions,  and 
arbitrary  lists  that  reflect  individual  tastes  —  lists 
of  which  no  two  are  alike. 

The  question  as  to  the  use  or  non-use  of  the  hy- 
phen with  combinations  of  words  arises  in  three 
ways. 

1.  Should  the  combination  be  printed  as  one 
word,  or  with  a  hyphen; 

2.  Should  it  be  printed  with  a  hyphen,  or  as 
two  words ;  or 

3.  Should  it  be  printed  as  one  word  or  as  two 
words. 

Atlantic  usage  in  this  respect  is  in  a  fluid  state, 
and  we  attempt  no  definite  rules  other  than  the 
following. 

Under  i :  — 

(a)  The  prefixes  co,  de,  pre,  and  re,  do  not  take 
a  hyphen  except  in  those  cases  where  the  absence 
of  a  hyphen  after  re  would  convey  a  different 
meaning  from  that  intended;  as  in  "re-create," 
meaning  to  create  anew,  as  distinguished  from 
"recreate,"  to  refresh  or  entertain;  "re-form,"  to 
form  anew,  as  distinguished  from  "reform"  in  its 
ordinary  signification.  When  either  of  these  pre- 
fixes is  combined  with  a  word  beginning  with  the 
same  vowel  with  which  the  prefix  ends,  a  diaeresis 
is  placed  over  the  second  vowel;  as  coordinate, 
preempt,  reenter,  etc.  The  ordinary  style  of  Eng- 
lish printers,  followed  by  many  in  America,  is  to 


COMPOUND  WORDS  203 

use  the  hyphen  in  cases  that  fall  within  the  last 
category;  as  co-operate,  re-edit,  etc.  Some  printers 
also  use  the  hyphen  in  the  special  form  re-read, 
but  in  Atlantic  usage  it  is  omitted. 

(b)  Contrary  to  the  practice  of  many  offices, 
Atlantic  usage  still  requires  the  hyphen  in  to-day, 
to-night,  to-morrow.  This  practice  is  more  or  less 
traditional,  and  it  is  not  altogether  clear  why 
these  words  do  not  stand  on  the  same  foot- 
ing as  "yesterday,"  which  no  one  ever  thinks  of 
printing  with  a  hyphen.1 

(c)  Prefixes  ordinarily  combined  without  a  hy- 
phen may  be  followed  by  that  mark  when  it  is 
desired  to  call  attention  to  the  distinction  between 
the  different  meanings  of  the  same  word  used  with 
different  prefixes :  — 

He  draws  a  very  sharp  distinction  between  im-moral, 
un-moral,  and  a-moral. 

The  same  purpose  is  perhaps  more  frequently 
indicated  by  the  use  of  italics :  — 

He  draws  a  very  sharp  distinction  between  immoral 
wnmoral,  and  amoral. 

1  "The  forms  today,  tonight,  tomorrow  are  alternative  with  to- 
day, to-night,  to-morrow.  The  hyphened  forms  are  more  current  in 
books  and  still  current  in  some  newspapers;  the  forms  without 
hyphen  are  commonly  used  by  newspapers  and  are  used  by  some 
of  the  best  book  printers.  The  age  and  familiar  use  and  the  pro- 
nunciation of  these  words  all  suggest  the  solid  form."  —  Summey, 
op.  tit.,  p.  177. 


204  COMPOUND  WORDS 

(d)  Mr.  Hart's  rule,  quoted  above,  that  "a com- 
pound noun  which  has  but  one  accent,  and  from 
familiar  use  has  become  one  word,  requires  no  hy- 
phen," may  perhaps  be  taken  as  a  general  guide, 
if  the  words  we  have  italicized  are  omitted.  But 
the  question  of  the  number  of  accents  is  rather  a 
nice  one  for  a  compositor  to  decide,  and,  as  we 
have  said,  the  rule  is  by  no  means  universal  in  its 
application.1 

Under  2,  we  adopt  the  two  rules  of  Mr.  Hart 
mentioned  above,  but  not  quoted :  — 

(a)  When  an  adverb  modifies  a  predicate,  the 
hyphen  should  not  be  used:  as  "this  fact  is  well 
known." 

(b)  Where  either  (i)  a  noun  and  adjective  or 
participle,  or  (2)  an  adjective  and  a  noun,  in 
combination,  are  used  as  a  compound  adjective, 
the  hyphen  should  be  used:  "a  poverty-stricken 
family,"  "a  blood-red  hand,"  "a  nineteenth-cen- 
tury invention." 

This  last  is  not  always  easy  of  application,  but 
it  seems  to  us  to  be  preferable  to  the  cognate  rule 
of  the  University  of  Chicago  Press:  "Hyphenate 
two  or  more  words  (except  proper  names  forming 
a  unity  in  themselves)  combined  into  one  adjec- 
tive preceding  a  noun,"  because  the  latter  is  so 
comprehensive  that  it  needs  to  be  qualified  by 

1  For  example,  to-day,  to-night,  and  to-morrow  have  but  one  ac- 
cent, yet  Mr.  Hart  would  print  them  with  the  hyphen. 


COMPOUND  WORDS  205 

excepting,  not  only  the  cases  covered  by  Mr. 
Hart's  rule  (a),  but  also  the  following  well-defined 
category :  — 

(c)  Adverbs  ending  in  ly  should  not  be  con- 
nected by  a  hyphen  with  the  following  words 
under  any  circumstances.  For  example,  we  say, 
"a  well-read  man,"  but,  " a  profoundly  instructed 
student  of  biology." 

(d)  All  the  above  are  concerned  with  adjectival 
compounds.    The  subject  of  hyphenating  com- 
pound nouns  is  even  more  difficult  to  deal  with, 
and  little  more  can  be  said  than  that  the  hyphen  is 
ordinarily  used  if  the  first  word  of  the  compound  is 
anything  except  an  adjective.  But  the  exceptions 
to  this  general  statement  are  so  numerous  that  it 
is  impossible  to  call  it  a  rule. 

(e)  Compounds  of  which  "fellow"  is  the  first 
element  are  always  printed  as  two  words :  fellow 
man,  fellow  citizens,  etc.    This  well-established 
Atlantic  usage  is  opposed  to  the  practice  of  all 
English  and  a  great  many  American  printers. 

(/)  The  same  may  be  said  of  compounds  of 
which  "tree"  is  the  second  element:  these,  also, 
we  print  always  as  two  words:  apple  tree,  elm  tree. 

Under  3 :  — 

The  following  combinations,  sometimes  printed 
as  two  separate  words  (chiefly  in  England),  but 
never,  we  believe,  with  a  hyphen,  are  printed  as 
single  words  in  the  "Atlantic" :  — 


206  COMPOUND  WORDS 

Anyone,  everyone,  someone,1  and  forever. 

Charles  Stuart  Calverley  recognized,  albeit  with 
regret,  the  tendency  of  the  age,  even  in  England, 
to  adopt  the  joined  form  of  the  last-mentioned 
combination,  at  least,  when  he  wrote :  — 

Forever !  'T  is  a  single  word ! 

Our  rude  forefathers  deemed  it  two. 
Can  you  imagine  so  absurd 
A  view? 

Forever !  What  abysms  of  woe 

The  word  reveals,  what  frenzy,  what 
Despair !  For  ever  (printed  so) 
Did  not. 

Forever !  passion-fraught,  it  throws 

O'er  the  dim  page  a  gloom,  a  glamour: 
It's  sweet,  it 's  strange;  and  I  suppose 
It's  grammar. 

Forever!  'T  is  a  single  word! 

Our  rude  forefathers  deemed  it  two; 
Nor  am  I  confident  they  erred ; 
Are  you? 

On  the  other  hand,  one's  self  is  preferred  to 
oneself,  the  possessive  form  being  the  logical  one, 
and  the  one  adopted  in  the  self  forms  of  a  ma- 
jority of  the  other  pronouns  .Myself,  yourself,  her- 
self, ourselves,  yourselves,  are  possessives ;  himself, 
itself,  and  themselves  are  not. 

1  Equivalent  to  anybody,  everybody,  somebody.  They  are,  of 
course,  printed  as  two  words  when  used  with  modifying  phrases: 
"  Any  one  of  them  will  do  " ; "  his  words  were  be  directed  to  every 
one  of  those  present  ";  "  will  some  one  of  you  come  forward?  " 


SUGGESTIONS   CONCERNING 
RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

I.  "Who,"  "Which,"  or  "That,"  with  a  Personal 
or  Quasi-Personal  Antecedent 

i.  Who  (or  whom)  should  be  used  when  the 
antecedent  is  a  person  or  persons,  always  in  prefer- 
ence to  which,  and  generally  in  preference  to  that, 
even  in  "defining"  clauses.1 

John  Smith,  who  used  to  live  in  the  next  house  [non- 
defining],  is  spoken  of  as  the  Republican  candidate  for 
governor. 

The  John  Smith  who  is  being  groomed  for  the  Repub- 
lican nomination  [defining]  is  John  Smith  of  Skowhe- 
gan,  whom  I  used  to  play  with  [non-defining]  when  I 
was  a  boy. 

But  within  the  limits  of  his  vision  there  was  no  man 
whom  Scott  could  call  master  [defining]. 

It  was  evident  to  her  that  he  was  one  of  the  young 
squires  bewitched  whom  beautiful  women  are  con- 
stantly enlisting  [defining], 

It  is  sometimes  necessary,  however,  to  use  that 
for  who  in  a  defining  clause;  as  in  the  following 
example,  the  alternative  being  the  impossible  who 
who:  — 

1  For  the  distinction  between  denning  (or  restrictive)  and  non- 
defining  (non-restrictive)  clauses,  see  pp.  113,  114  supra. 


2o8  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

Oh !  who  that  remembers  Parsons  and  Dodd  ...  in 
those  two  characters,  etc. 

2.  When  the  antecedent  is  a  collective  noun,  or 
noun  of  multitude,  which  should  be  used  in  non- 
defining  and  that  in  defining  clauses,  when  the 
noun  is  referred  to  later  by  a  singular  pronoun, 
or  by  no  pronoun  at  all,  in  which  case  the  copula 
of  the  relative  should  be  singular.1 

The  rabble,  which  always  sees  in  public  disorder  its 
opportunity  for  plunder,  nocked  to  the  scene. 

The  crowd  that  is  now  surging  about  the  entrance  to 
these  halls  shows  by  its  ominous  silence  that  it  is  bent 
upon  mischief. 

But  if  the  noun  in  question,  though  singular  in 
form,  is  referred  to  by  a  pronoun  of  plural  mean- 
ing, the  proper  relative,  in  all  cases,  is  who,  and  its 
verb  should  be  plural. 

The  audience,  who  were  inclined  to  be  panicky  at 
first,  being  quieted  by  this  assurance,  remained  in 
their  seats. 

The  present  government,  who  have  shamefully  mis- 
managed affairs  from  the  beginning,  will  soon,  we  fer- 
vently hope,  be  deprived  of  the  high  offices  that  they 
dishonor. 

The  populace,  who  are  always  ready  to  applaud  the 
noisiest  demagogues,  waved  their  hats,  and  shouted  at 
the  tops  of  their  voices. 

1  See,  further,  under  "Number,"  pp.  244-46,  infra. 


"WHO,"  "WHICH,"  "THAT"  209 

3.  When  the  antecedent  is  an  animate  creature 
other  than  man,  who  should  be  used  only  when 
such  creature  is  designated  by  a  personal  pronoun 

—  "  he  "  or  "  she  "  —  or  is  referred  to  as  if  it  were 
a  human  being,  especially  when  some  individual 
of  the  species  is  meant. 

And  so  in  the  case  of  a  being  [a  coati-mundi]  who 
has  received  much  more  than  his  share  of  vitality,  it 
was  altogether  fitting  to  shorten  this  name  to  Kib.  — 
W.  BEEBE. 

Tedda  Gabler,  the  bob-tailed  mare,  who  throws  up 
the  dirt  with  her  big  hooves.1  —  KIPLING. 

I  led  the  way  up  the  steps,  and  there  in  the  doorway 
was  a  tenant,  one  who  had  already  taken  possession, 
and  who  now  faced  me,  with  that  dignity  .  .  .  which 
only  a  toad,  a  giant  grandmother  of  a  toad,  can  exhibit. 

—  W.  BEEBE. 

When  Nature,  or  Fortune,  personified,  is  the 
antecedent,  who  should  be  used. 

In  the  case  of  a  mixed  antecedent,  of  persons 
and  things,  that  is  properly  used  for  the  relative. 

The  glimpse  we  have  of  the  men  and  talents  that  the 
small  nations  can  rally  suggests  that  perhaps  the  in- 
cident is  not  yet  closed. 

There  is  in  me  an  instant  repulsion  for  the  man  or 
book  that  lightly  uses,  etc. 

1  From  Kipling's  story,  "A  Walking  Delegate,"  in  The  Day's 
Work.  In  other  stories  printed  in  the  same  volume,  —  "The 
Ship  that  Found  Herself"  and  "007,"  —  inanimate  objects  are 
similarly  personified. 

10 


2io  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

n.  Whom  used  for  Who 

This  error  is  much  more  frequent  in  newspaper 
writing  than  elsewhere,  but  is  to  be  found  in  the 
work  of  writers  who,  one  would  think,  must  know 
better.  It  occurs  generally  when  another  clause, 
including  a  verb,  is  placed  between  the  relative 
and  the  verb  of  which  it  is  the  subject,  the  writer 
being  misled  apparently  by  the  impression  that 
the  relative  is  the  object  of  the  nearer  verb  in  the 
subordinate  clause. 

It  is  only  those  converted  by  the  Gospel  whom  we 
pretend  are  influenced  by  it. 

Those  whom  it  was  originally  pronounced  would  be 
allowed  to  go. 

We  feed  children  whom  we  think  are  hungry. 

The  above  examples,  given  in  "The  King's  Eng- 
lish" (page  93),  are  taken  from  periodicals  —  the 
second  from  the  Spectator! 

Mr.  Dombey,  whom  he  now  began  to  perceive  was  as 
far  beyond  human  recall.  —  DICKENS. 

.  .  .  people  whom  he  decided  should  be  invited  to 
the  Shrubberies.  —  P.  L.  FORD. 

A  companion  whom  I  knew  could  only  be  his 
brother.  —  CONAN  DOYLE. 

Here  the  archaeologist  hands  over  the  search  to  the 
anthropologist  and  palaeontologist,  whom  he  finds  have 
been  working  from  the  other  end.  — VERNON  KELL 


"THAN  WHOM"  — "THAN  WHICH"         211 

In  his  speech  declaring  the  recent  session  of  a 
Congress  at  an  end,  the  Speaker  is  reported  by  the 
"Congressional  Record"  to  have  said:  — 

Particularly  do  I  appreciate  how  much  is  due  to  the 
kindness  and  generosity  of  the  minority  leader  .  .  . 
and  to  his  lieutenant,  Mr.  Kitchin,  whose  ill  health  we 
regret,  but  whom  we  all  sincerely  hope  will  be  with  us 
next  session,  etc. 

Another,  less  frequent,  error  is  the  use  of  who 
for  whom;  as  when  Gratiano  says  in  the  Merchant 
of  Venice:  — 

I  have  a  wife  who,  I  protest,  I  love. 

m.  Than  Whom  —  Than  Which 

Beelzebub,  than  whom,  Satan  except,  none  higher 
sat.  —  MILTON. 

Expand,  being  than  which  none  else  is  perhaps  more 
spiritual.  —  WHITMAN. 

This  device,  we  judge,  was  peculiar  to  Mrs.  Carter, 
than  whom  a  less  eager  student  would  have  congratu- 
lated herself,  etc.  —  R.  BERGENGREN. 

All  the  centuries  between  Milton  and  Bergen- 
gren  are  full  of  examples  of  the  persistent  use  of 
this  expression,  although  it  is  manifestly  wrong. 
On  the  other  hand,  "than  who"  is  impossible;  so 
that  the  only  way  to  avoid  the  difficulty  in  the 
interest  of  good  English  is  to  recast  the  sentence. 
But,  as  the  authors  of  "The  King's  English"  say, 


212  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

"Perhaps  the  convenience  of  than  whom  is  so 
great  that  to  rule  it  out  amounts  to  saying  that 
man  is  made  for  grammar  and  not  grammar  for 
man."1  Cobbett's  remarks  on  this  subject  are 
interesting  as  affording  an  excellent  specimen  of 
his  method  of  combining  instruction  with  a  whack 
at  his  enemies. 

"There  is,  however,  an  erroneous  way  of  em- 
ploying whom  which  I  must  point  out  to  your  par- 
ticular attention,  because  it  is  so  often  seen  in 
very  good  writers,  and  because  it  is  very  deceiv- 
ing. 'The  duke  of  Argyle,  than  whom  no  man 
was  more  hearty  in  the  cause.  Cromwell,  than 
whom  no  man  was  better  skilled  in  artifice.'  A  hun- 
dred such  phrases  might  be  collected  from  Hume, 
Blackstone,  and  even  from  Doctors  Blair  and 
Johnson.  Yet  they  are  bad  grammar.  In  all  such 
cases,  who  should  be  made  use  of  :2  for,3  it  is  nomi- 
native and  not  objective.  .  .  .  It  is  a  very  com- 
mon parliament-house  phrase,  and  therefore  pre- 
sumptively corrupt:4  but  it  is  Doctor  Johnson's 
phrase,  too : '  Pope,  than  whom  few  men  had  more 
vanity.'  The  Doctor  did  not  say,  '  Myself,  than 
whorn^  few  men  have  been  found  more  base,  hav- 
ing, in  my  Dictionary,  described  a  pensioner  as  a 

1  Page  64. 

1  How?  one  wonders. 

*  He  gives  no  rule  which  would  authorize  this  comma. 

4  With  this  colon,  again  he  violates  his  own  rule. 


THE  "AND  WHICH"  CONSTRUCTION       213 

slave  of  state,  and  having  afterwards  myself  be- 
come a  pensioner.'"1 

IV.  The  "And  Which"  Construction 

And  which,  but  which,  but  whose,  and  whose, 
and  who,  etc.,  are  sometimes  so  used  as  to  sug- 
gest coordination  with  a  preceding  relative  clause 
that  does  not  exist.  If  the  preceding  clause  is 
equivalent  to  a  relative  clause,  the  coordination 
is  proper,  although  the  connective  is  often  un- 
necessary; when  the  preceding  clause  is  not  so 
equivalent,  or  when  it  can  be  made  so  only  by 
changing  its  construction,  the  so-called  "and 
which"  construction  is  wrong. 

[The  Great  Seal]  of  Great  Britain  was  offered  me 
last  week  by  Lord  Grenville  and  Mr.  Fox,  but  which 
for  several  reasons  ...  I  declined.  —  LORD  ELLEN- 
BOROUGH. 

Here  there  is  no  true  coordination;  he  should 
have  written,  "but  for  several  reasons  .  .  .  I  de- 
clined it." 

In  order  to  give  color  of  reasonableness  to  this  spe- 
cies of  appropriation,  the  languages  taught  by  the  pos- 
sessors are  called  the  "learned  languages,"  and  which 
appellation  is,  at  the  same  time,  etc.  —  COBBETT. 

1  English  Grammar,  edition  of  1906,  p.  106.  He  goes  on  to  deal 
with  a  defense  of  the  expression,  by  Bishop  Lowth,  based  on  its 
use  by  Milton,  "who,"  says  Cobbett,  "has  committed  many  hun- 
dreds, if  not  thousands  of  grammatical  errors,  many  of  which  the 
Bishop  himself  has  pointed  out." 


214  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

Commas  are  made  use  of  when  phrases,  that  is  to 
say,  portions  of  words  are  throwed1  into  a  sentence, 
and  which  are  not  absolutely  necessary  to  assist  in  its 
grammatical  construction.  —  COBBETT. 

In  the  first  of  these  two  sentences  the  "and"  is 
clearly  superfluous;  in  the  second,  "but,"  or  "al- 
though they,"  might  be  substituted  for  the  inde- 
fensible and  which. 

But  through  it  all,  Mr.  President,  his  ceaseless 
vigilance  and  his  enduring  service  have  fully  justified 
the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Oregon,  consisting  of  an 
overwhelming  preponderance  of  political  opponents, 
but  who,  nevertheless,  for  the  last  20  years,  as  governor 
and  as  Senator,  have  availed  themselves  of  his  serv- 
ices, and  have  kept  him  at  the  helm  of  public  affairs.  — 
Congressional  Record. 

The  clause  beginning  with  "consisting  of" 
should  be  recast.  One  can  hardly  say,  "  the  people 
of  Oregon,  who  consist  of  .  .  .  ,"  and  "the  peo- 
ple of  Oregon  which  consists  ..."  would  re- 
quire "but  which,"  instead  of  but  who.  "The 
people  of  Oregon,  among  whom  his  political  op- 
ponents are  in  a  large  majority,  but  who,"  etc., 
would  be  more  grammatical.  Incidentally,  we 
may  remark  that  "as  governor  and  as  Senator" 
should  be  placed  after  "services."  As  it  stands, 
"the  people  of  Oregon  ...  as  governor  and  as 
Senator,"  have  availed  themselves,  etc. 

1  See  English  Grammar,  pp.  61,  62,  for  Cobbett's  defense  of  his 
use  of  "throwed,"  "drawed,"  and  other  similar  forms. 


THE  "AND  WHICH"  CONSTRUCTION       215 

What  the  Chair  has  been  ruling,  and  to  which  the 
solicitors  of  certain  departments  .  .  .  are  objecting, 
is  that,  etc.  —  Congressional  Record. 

The  mere  omission  of  the  superfluous  and  would 
be  less  emphatic  than  to  say  "and  what  the  soli- 
citors .  .  .  are  objecting  to." 

In  the  next  examples,  the  first  clause  is  equiva- 
lent to  a  relative  clause  of  the  same  type  as  that 
which  follows,  and  the  construction  is  right. 

Suppose  then  a  gentleman  of  unknown  fortune  [the 
amount  of  whose  fortune  is  unknown],  but  whose 
wealth  was  to  be  conjectured  from  the  fact  that  he 
spent  two  thousand  a  year  on  his  park- walls  and  foot- 
men only,  professes  himself  fond  of  science;  and  that,1 
etc.  —  RUSKIN. 

Associated  with  this  wonderful  mechanism  of  the 
animal  body,  we  have  phenomena  [which  are]  no  less 
certain  than  those  of  physics,  but  between  which  and 
the  mechanism  we  discern,  etc.  —  TYNDALL. 

Here  is  a  body  of  thought,  feeling,  character,  experi- 
ence, [which  is]  fluid  and  vast  as  all  the  seas,  and  whose 
tide  is  the  movement  within  it  of  the  Eternal  Spirit.  — 
GEORGE  A.  GORDON.  (The  "and"  is  unnecessary.) 

It  is  a  case  of  the  conflict  of  two  self-systems  in  a 
personality  [which  had  been]  up  to  that  time  hetero- 
geneously  divided,  but  in  which,  after  the  conversion- 
crisis,  etc.  —  W.  JAMES. 

1  Having  omitted  "that"  after  "Suppose  then,"  the  author 
should  have  omitted  this  "that"  also.  See  p.  261  infra.  But  it 
would  have  been  much  better  not  to  omit  it  in  the  first  clause. 


216  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

Whatever  our  beliefs  or  disbeliefs,  here  is  a  very  no- 
ble and  beautiful  spirit,  a  very  fine  and  lofty  courage, 
to  be  [which  should  be]  reverentially  admired  of  all  men, 
and  which  can  never  be  out  of  fashion.  —  H.  C.  LODGE. 

This  subject  is  discussed  at  great  length,  and 
most  thoroughly,  in  "The  King's  English,"  l  and 
the  distinction  between  ."open  coordination," 
"latent  coordination,"  and  "insubordination"  is 
illustrated  by  numerous  examples,  which  empha- 
size the  authors'  demonstration  of  the  careless- 
ness, almost  slovenliness,  of  those  who  would  nat- 
urally be  regarded  as  the  "best  writers."  No 
attempt  is  made  here  to  do  more  than  treat  the 
matter  in  the  simplest  possible  way ;  but  this  sin- 
gle example  of  "insubordination,"  of  which  no 
less  eminent  a  writer  than  Thackeray  was  guilty, 
may  find  a  place. 

They  marched  into  the  apartment  where  the  ban- 
quet was  served;  and  which,  as  I  have  promised  the 
reader  he  shall  enjoy  it,  he  shall  have  the  privilege  of 
ordering  himself. 

The  which,  of  course,  refers  to  "banquet" ;  but 
the  coordination  is  with  "where,"  that  is  to  say, 
the  reader  may  order  the  apartment  for  himself. 

V.  "That"  as  a  Relative 

"  That  is  evidently  regarded  by  many  writers  as 
an  ornamental  variation  for  who  and  which,  to  be 

1  Pages  85  /. 


"THAT"  AS  A  RELATIVE  217 

used,  not  indeed  immoderately,  but  quite  without 
distinction.  The  opinion  is  excusable;  it  is  not 
easy  to  draw  any  distinction  that  is  at  all  sup- 
ported by  usage.  There  was  formerly  a  tendency 
to  use  that  for  everything ;  the  tendency  now  is  to 
use  who  and  which  for  everything.  That  from  dis- 
use has  begun  to  acquire  an  archaic  flavor,  which 
with  some  authors  is  a  recommendation."1 

The  justice  of  the  first  sentence  quoted  above 
is  abundantly  confirmed  in  the  present  writer's 
mind  by  his  examination  of  the  manuscripts  which 
pass  through  his  hands;  but  he  can  find  little  evi- 
dence of  the  tendency  to  use  who  and  which  for 
everything.  His  experience  leads  him  to  believe 
that  very  few  writers  have  in  mind  any  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  that  and  which.  Some  apparently 
dislike  the  one,  and  some  the  other;  and  it  is  the 
purpose  in  this  place  simply  to  suggest  one  or  two 
principles  that  govern,  or  are  meant  to  govern,  the 
"editing"  and  proof-reading  of  "Atlantic"  arti- 
cles, and  of  Atlantic  books  so  far  as  it  is  left  to 
editorial  discretion. 

i.  That  should  never  be  used  in  a  non-defin- 
ing relative  clause,  as  it  is  in  the  first  two  exam- 
ples following. 

It  is  an  astounding  fact,  that  [which]  his  University 
must  explain,  that  he,  with  his  great  abilities,  etc. 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  80. 


218  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

One's  first  impression  is  that  "that"  is  a  con- 
junction, introducing  the  "astounding  fact." 

She  spoke  of  it  tolerantly,  just  naming  it  in  a  simple 
sentence,  that  [which]  fell  with  a  ring  and  chimed.  — 
MEREDITH. 

In  the  next  example,  also  of  a  non-defining 
clause,  which  is  properly  used. 

He  reflected  passingly  on  the  instinctive  push  of  her 
rich  and  sparkling  voluble  fancy  to  the  initiative, 
which  women  do  not  like  in  a  woman,  and  men  prefer 
to  distantly  admire.1  —  MEREDITH. 

2.  That  should  generally  be  used  in  defining 
clauses,  that  is,  in  those  which  so  limit  the  appli- 
cation of  the  antecedent  that  they  are  essential  to 
the  meaning. 

In  every  novel  of  Balzac's  .  .  .  there  are  the  great 
intentions  that  fructify  and  the  great  intentions  that 
fail.  —  H.  JAMES. 

It  is  the  inexorable  clock  that  says  she  is  as  other 
women.  —  MEREDITH. 

It's  a  disease  that  don't  attack  short-haulers,  as  a 
rule.  —  KIPLING. 

When  my  work  brings  me  in  touch  with  a  genuine 
book-lover,  a  connoisseur  of  all  that  is  included  in  the 
word  "book." 

From  a  rhetorical  standpoint,  this  use  of  that 
is  more  fitting,  there  being  no  pause  before  the 
relative  in  a  defining  clause,  and  that  being,  under 

1  Meredith  was  rather  addicted  to  the  split  infinitive. 


"THAT"  AS  A  RELATIVE  219 

such  circumstances,  more  euphonious — or  "easier 
to  say  "  —  than  which.  For  instance,  the  follow- 
ing sentence  would  be  improved  by  substituting 
that  for  which  in  both  clauses. 

The  animals  which  existed  would  be  the  ancestors  of 
those  which  now  live.  —  HUXLEY. 

Exceptions  to  this  rule,  if,  indeed,  it  can  be 
called  a  rule,  are  too  numerous  to  admit  of  any 
really  satisfactory  classification. 

(a)  As  that  has  no  possessive  case,  whose  must 
always  be  used  when  the  relative  is  in  that  case. 

The  one  book  -whose  pages  should  be  conned  and 
conned  again  by  every  Christian. 

(b)  As  the  relative  that  cannot  follow  a  preposi- 
tion, which  must  always  be  used  in  that  connection. 

The  club  with  which  the  crime  was  committed  was 
hidden  under  the  church  steps. 

In  the  next  example,  the  second  relative  clause, 
like  the  first,  is  defining. 

When  it  lets  itself  loose  among  the  old  social  types 
that  vegetate  in  silent  corners  of  provincial  towns,  and 
of  which  an  old  and  complex  civilization,  passing  from 
phase  to  phase,  leaves  everywhere  so  thick  a  deposit, 
etc.  —  H.  JAMES. 

NOTE.  —  The  question  whether  a  relative  clause  is  defining 
or  non-defining  can  often,  but  by  no  means  always,  be  an- 
swered by  applying  the  test  of  dropping  the  pronoun  (but  only 
when  it  is  in  the  objective  case  [see  page  225]) ;  this  can  generally 
be  done  in  a  defining  clause,  but  cannot  be  tolerated  in  a  non- 


220  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

defining  one.  We  can  say,  "The  man  he  saw  yesterday  proved 
to  be  John  Smith  " ;  but  not  "  John  Smith,  he  saw  yesterday, 
died  this  morning."  To  make  the  last  intelligible,  "whom" 
must  be  supplied  after  "Smith." 

(c)  The  use  of  that  rather  than  which  in  defining 
clauses  is  more  or  less  awkward, 

(i)  When  the  relative  is  widely  separated  from 
its  antecedent. 

The  professor  then  proceeded  with  the  particular 
experiment  —  one  demanding  the  most  meticulous 
care  —  which  he  expected  to  be  decisive  of  his  theory. 

As  the  relative  clause  is  defining,  that  would  be 
preferable  but  for  the  parenthetical  clause. 

The  question  of  awkwardness  in  this  connec- 
tion is  complicated  by  a  further  possibility  of 
ambiguity  where  a  defining  clause  intervenes  be- 
tween the  antecedent  and  a  second  relative  clause, 
which  may  or  may  not  be  defining. 

But  in  the  following  examples  the  distinction  be- 
tween defining  and  non-defining  clauses  is  clearly 
marked  by  the  use  of  that  and  which  respectively. 

Are  you  .  .  .  sure  .  .  .  that  the  coiling  shadow, 
which  disquiets  itself  in  vain,  cannot  change  into  the 
smoke  of  the  torment  that  ascends  forever?  —  RUSKIN. 

How  the  world  needs  the  wisdom,  which  no  learning 
can  give,  that  sees  the  vanity  and  shallowness  of  nar- 
row partisanship  and  jingoism,  of  creeds  that  conceal 
more  than  they  reveal,  of  social  shams  that  often  veil 
corruptions,  and  the  inanity  of  the  money-hunt  that 


"THAT"  AS  A  RELATIVE  221 

monopolizes  the  energies  of  our  entire  civilization !  — 
LOWES  DICKINSON. 

(2)  When  the  relative  is  separated  from  its 
copula. 

It  never  seems  to  occur  to  the  parents  that  there 
may  be  an  education  which,  in  itself,  is  advancement  in 
Life.  —  RUSKIN. 

These  are  the  hills,  and  these  the  bays  and  blue  inlets 
which,  among  the  Greeks,  would  have  been  always  loved 
—  RUSKIN. 

.  .  .  and  to  the  contemporary  calamity  which,  were 
it  rightly  mourned  by  her,  would  occur  no  more  here- 
after. —  RUSKIN. 

Many  of  these  are  to  be  found  in  "  L'Histoire  de  ma 
Vie,"  a  work  which,  although  it  was  thought  disap- 
pointing at  that  time  of  its  appearance,  is  well  worth 
reading.  —  H.  JAMES. 

(3)  When  the  relative  stands  in  close  proximity 
to  other  thats  (whether  conjunctive  or  demonstra- 
tive pronouns).  The  simplest  example  is  found  in 
the  very  common  combination  that  which. 

The  nation  now  has  to  face  a  condition  almost  iden- 
tical with  that  which  existed  at  the  close  of  the  Civil 
War. 

Is  it  to  be  thought  that  that  which  has  brought  the 
mind  so  greatly  into  play  has  had  no  effect  on  the 
mind  itself?  —  SIR  M.  FOSTER. 

A  few  further  examples  will  give  some  idea  of 
the  wide  scope  of  this  exception. 


222  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

With  all  the  zest  -which  that  dream  had  engendered, 
he  was  hunting  thro'  Petrograd  for  a  wilted  potato. 

I  sometimes  found  myself  wondering  whether  there 
can  be  any  popular  religion  raised  on  the  ruins  of  the 
old  Christianity  without  the  presence  of  that  element 
which  in  the  past,  etc. 

Before  continuing  the  story  of  that  movement,  how- 
ever, we  must  allude  briefly  to  that  portion  of  the  Euro- 
pean frontier  which  lay  northward  of  the  Puritan  set- 
tlements, and  which,  etc. 

The  result  he  reaches  is  that  students  do  not  know 
the  world  which  lies  about  them,  and  that  they  are 
taught  to  answer  quite  glibly  academic  questions  of  a 
decidedly  erudite  character. 

Read  this  with  that  substituted  for  which:  one 
instinctively  mistakes  for  a  moment  the  conjunc- 
tion that  immediately  following  for  another  rela- 
tive in  the  same  construction  as  the  first  one. 

In  the  next  example,  the  that  standing  in  a 
defining  clause,  although  quite  proper,  might  well 
be  changed  to  which,  as  it  causes  a  momentary 
hesitation  at  the  second  that,  as  to  whether  it  is 
not  a  relative,  with  "belief"  as  its  antecedent. 

This  results,  in  part,  from  a  lingering  of  the  patriotic 
fervor  that  floated  the  Liberty  Loans,  and  in  part  from 
a  wholesome  belief  that  punishment  inexorably  at- 
tends, etc. 

In  support  of  what  was  said  a  few  pages  back 
to  the  effect  that  few  writers  have  in  mind  any 


"THAT"  AS  A  RELATIVE  223 

special  distinction  between  that  and  which,  we 
quote,  from  three  of  the  most  eminent  modern 
authors,  passages  in  which  the  two  pronouns  are 
used  quite  indiscriminately  in  precisely  the  same 
construction  —  all  in  what  we  have  called  "denn- 
ing" clauses. 

All  the  toys  that  infatuate  men  and  which  they  play 
for,  —  houses,  land,  money,  etc.  —  EMERSON. 

The  mysteries  and  scenery  of  the  cave  had  the  same 
dignity  that  belongs  to  all  natural  objects,  and  which 
shames  the  fine  things  to  which  we  foppishly  compare 
them.  .  .  .  We  shot  Bengal  lights  into  the  vaults  and 
groins  of  the  starry  cathedrals,  and  examined  all  the 
masterpieces  which  the  four  combined  engineers,  wa- 
ter, limestone,  gravitation,  and  time,  could  make  in  the 
dark.  —  EMERSON. 

Every  particle  that  enters  into  the  comparison  of  a 
muscle,  a  nerve,  or  a  tone  has  been  placed  in  its  posi- 
tion by  molecular  force.  .  .  .  Our  difficulty  is  not  with 
the  quality  of  the  problem,  but  with  its  complexity; 
and  this  difficulty  might  be  met  by  the  simple  expansion 
of  the  faculties  which  we  now  possess.  —  TYNDALL. 

It  is  remarkable  how  little  of  a  merely  local  and  tem- 
porary character,  how  little  of  those  scoriae  which  a 
reader  has  to  clear  away  before  he  gets  to  the  precious 
ore,  how  little  that  even  admits  of  doubt  or  question, 
the  morality  of  Marcus  Aurelius  exhibits.  In  general, 
the  action  he  prescribes  is  action  which  every  sound 
nature  must  recognize  as  right,  and  the  motives  he  as- 
signs are  motives  that  every  clear  reason  must  recog- 
nize as  valid.  —  ARNOLD. 


224  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

In  a  brief  book-review,  by  an  experienced  writer, 
we  find  the  following  paragraphs  illustrative  of 
the  same  indifference. 

By  common  consent  it  is  something  that  the  world 
ought  to  be  made  safe  for. 

No  new  doctrines  are  expounded  here,  nor,  indeed, 
are  we  entitled  to  look  for  novelties  in  a  field  which 
has  been  so  diligently  ploughed  by  political  philoso- 
phers for  more  than  twenty  centuries. 

They  are  the  work  of  a  master-hand  that  has  not  lost 
its  cunning. 

The  shrewd  observations  .  .  .  the  deftness  in  pick- 
ing out  the  things  that  really  count,  etc. 

This  at  times  gives  the  reader  an  impression  of  super- 
ficiality, especially  in  the  chapters  which  deal  with  the 
government  of  the  U.S. 

It  is  risking  very  little,  however,  to  venture  the  pre- 
diction that  Lord  Bryce's  book  will  quickly  gain  and 
hold  recognition  as  the  most  sensible  and  lucid  expo- 
sition of  modern  democracy  that  the  shelves  of  our 
libraries  contain. 

In  the  next,  rather  extraordinary,  passage  Lord 
Dunsany  seems  to  have  reverted  to  the  "ancient " 
tendency  noted  by  "The  King's  English,"  "  to  use 
that  for  everything" ;  and  even  so,  he  has  omitted 
several  conjunctive  thats,  supplied  in  brackets. 

They  say  [that]  a  barrel-organ  played  quite  near 
them;  they  say  [that]  a  coster  was  singing;  they  admit 
that  he  was  singing  out  of  tune  they  admit  a  cockney 
accent ;  and  yet  they  say  that  that  song  had  in  it  some- 
thing that  no  earthly  song  had  ever  had  before;  and 


"THAT"  AS  A  RELATIVE  225 

both  men  say  that  they  would  have  wept,  but  that  there 
was  a  feeling  about  their  heart-strings  that  was  far  too 
deep  for  tears.  They  believe  that  the  longings  of  this 
masterful  man,  who  was  able  to  rule  a  safari  by  a 
glance  of  his  eye,  and  could  terrify  natives  without 
raising  a  hand,  had  been  so  strong  at  the  last  that  it  had 
impressed  itself  deeply  upon  nature,  and  had  caused  a 
mirage  that  may  not  fade  wholly  away,  perhaps,  for 
several  years. 

(4)  If,  in  the  second  of  two  parallel  defining 
clauses  in  the  same  sentence,  the  use  of  which 
rather  than  that  is  indicated,  it  is  better  to  use 
which  in  the  first  one  also. 

A  kindness  that  [which]  made  every  man  his  friend, 
and  a  courtesy  which,  even  in  a  time  when  men  lifted 
their  hats  to  men  as  well  as  to  women,  had  gained  for 
him  the  sobriquet  of  "Gentleman  George."  —  HOP- 
KINSON  SMITH. 

We  have  already  seen  the  results  of  the  administra- 
tive confusion,  in  the  opportunity  which  it  gave  the 
New  England  colonies,  and  of  which  they  made  full 
use.  —  J.  T.  ADAMS. 

VI.  Omission  of  the  Relative 

With  regard  to  the  not  infrequent  omission  of 
the  relative,  briefly  referred  to  above,  it  should 
perhaps  be  repeated,  for  emphasis,  that  such  omis- 
sion is  possible  (i)  only  in  defining  clauses,  and 
(2)  in  those,  only  when  the  relative,  if  present, 
would  be  in  the  objective  case,  with  or  without  a 
preposition. 

16 


226  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

It  is  properly  enough  omitted  in  these  three 
examples :  — 

He  was  the  only  student  I  have  ever  had,  of  whose 
criticism  I  felt  afraid. 

The  late  Senator  was  a  man  nobody  ever  could  quar- 
rel with. 

Stretching  long  fingers  with  disks  like  cymbals,  reach- 
ing out  for  the  land  she  had  never  trod,  limbs  flexed 
for  leaps  she  had  never  made.  —  BEEBE. 

But  in  the  next  two,  where,  in  each  case,  the 
omitted  pronoun  is  the  subject,  the  omission  is 
altogether  wrong. 

I  cannot  see  why  the  Senate  should  undertake  to  di- 
rect the  Federal  Reserve  Board  by  language  which  no 
one  can  understand  and  [which]  will  not  tend  to  secure, 
etc.  —  Congressional  Record. 

But  the  pearl  pendant,  which  her  husband  had  given 
her  .  .  .  and  [which]  now  oscillated  with  the  move- 
ment of  the  carriage,  etc.  —  E.  F.  BENSON. 

The  next  example  shows  the  distinction  clearly, 
the  object  relative  being  omitted  before ' '  he  saved , ' ' 
whereas  the  subject  relative  that,  before ' '  was  lost , " 
cannot  be  spared. 

He  is  enshrined  there  on  the  bridge  ...  an  image 
of  ultimate  resistance,  so  intense  .  .  .  that  his  astral 
.  .  .  must  still  patrol  the  course  of  the  steamer  he 
saved,  or  of  the  steamer  that  was  lost. 

It  may  be  said  further  that,  if  it  is  omitted  in 


OMISSION  OF  THE  RELATIVE  227 

the  first  of  two  or  more  parallel  clauses,  in  which 
the  construction  is  unchanged,  it  is  better  to  omit 
it  in  all. 

But  the  Devil  I  do  recognize,  and  that  I  wish  to  illus- 
trate here,  etc. 

This  is  illogical ;  the  first  "  that "  being  omitted, 
the  other  is  better  away.  And  even  if  "that" 
were  supplied  after  "Devil,"  the  sentence  would 
be  more  flexible  without  the  second  "that  I." 

That  the  distinction  between  defining  and  non- 
defining  clauses  was  undreamed  of  in  Cobbett's 
day,  not  in  name  only,  but  in  theory,  is  evident 
from  his  remark:  "  'Which,'  as  a  relative  pronoun, 
is  applied  to  irrational  beings  only,  and,  as  to 
those  beings,  it  may  be  employed  indifferently 
with  '  that,'  except  where  a  relative  comes  directly 
after  a  verb  or  a  preposition." x  But  in  his  search 
for  illustrations  of  the  improper  use  of  "that"  in- 
stead of  "who"  or  "whom,"  he  unearthed  two 
curious  passages  in  Hume. 

The  queen  gave  orders  for  taking  into  custody  the 
Duke  of  Northumberland,  who  fell  on  his  knees  to  the 
Earl  of  Arundel,  that  arrested  him. 

Douglas,  who  had  prepared  his  people,  and  that  was 
bent  upon  taking  his  part  openly. 

It  is  difficult  to  classify  the  following  examples 
of  misuse  or  misplacement  of  relatives. 

1  English  Grammar,  p.  108. 


228  RELATIVE  PRONOUNS 

I  write  this  at  the  James  Bryces',  who  have  taken  the 
Merrimans'  house  for  the  summer,  and  whither  I  came 
the  day  before  yesterday. 

The  first  relative  treats  "the  Bryces"  as  per- 
sons, and  the  second,  "whither,"  as  a  place. 

Could  we  forecast  the  future  with  the  same  accuracy 
that  [with  which]  astronomers  do  the  movements  of  the 
orbs. 

Notably  a  pool  known  as  the  Princess's,  so  called 
after  the  royal  lady  as  a  compliment,  to  whom  the 
Quebec  Government  had  ceded  the  fishing  rights  to  her 
husband. 

The  last  sentence  appeared  in  a  recent  maga- 
zine, over  the  name  of  a  famous  statesman,  who 
was  once  leader  of  a  great  political  party,  and  who 
has  been  Viceroy  of  India  and  Governor-General 
of  Canada! 

Madame  de  Lanel  was  an  acquaintance  Miss  Cass 
had  made  a  couple  of  years  previous  on  a  Mediterra- 
nean liner,  who,  at  that  time  had  been  a  Miss  Edith 
Doelger. 

VII.  Whoever  [Whosoever],  Whomever  [Whomsoever] 

The  fact  that  these  words  stand  "for  anyone 
who,11  or  some  similar  phrase,  is  presumably  over- 
looked by  those  persons  who  mistakenly  use  the 
accusative  for  the  nominative  in  such  sentences  as 
the  following:  — 


"WHOEVER,"  "WHOMEVER"  229 

A  most  unjust  law  .  .  .  was  that  which  provided 
that  any  native  found  drunk  should  have  to  labor 
twelve  days  for  "whomever  accused  him  and  proved  the 
case. 

The  error  is  so  common  that  it  must  be  familiar 
to  everyone.  It  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  fact  that 
the  word,  in  most  cases,  immediately  follows  a 
preposition,  and  to  failure  to  reflect  that  the  rela- 
tive portion  of  the  word  is  the  subject  of  the  verb. 


COMMON  PARTS 

UNDER  this  heading  "The  King's  English"  dis- 
cusses certain  types  of  erroneous  construction 
growing  out  of  the  desire  to  avoid  the  repetition  of 
words  common  to  two  sentences  connected  by  a 
conjunction.  In  such  cases  the  rule  is  stated  to  be 
that  "a  word  that  is  not  common  to  both  sen- 
tences must  not  be  treated  as  common;  and  one 
that  is  common,  and  whose  position  declares  that 
it  is  meant  to  do  double  duty,  must  not  be  re- 
peated."1 This  rule  is  most  frequently  violated 
in  sentences  of  which  the  following  are  types. 

Have  you  had  relief  from  your  miserable  suffering 
state?  or  has  it  gone  on  as  badly  or  worse  than  ever? 

He  maintained  that  [the  guilty  man]  whose  guilt  was 
known  only  to  himself  might  well  suffer  in  his  conscience 
as  much,  if  not  more,  than  he  whose  guilt  was  known  to 
all  the  world. 

In  some  respects  Napoleon  appears  in  the  light  of 
history  to  be  as  great  a  man  if  not  greater  than  Crom- 
well. 

Congress  has  done  for  Labor  all  and  more  than  could 
be  expected  of  it 

1  Page  314.  The  subject  has  long  been  in  the  writer's  mind,  but 
he  again  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  Messrs.  Fowler,  for 
giving  a  name  to  this  problem,  and  a  succinct  definition. 


COMMON  PARTS  231 

In  all  four  examples,  "than"  is  treated  as  if  it 
were  common  to  both  clauses,  although  in  each 
of  the  first  three  "as,"  and  in  the  fourth  "that,"  is 
required  to  complete  the  sense  of  the  first.  "  Has 
it  gone  on  as  badly  [as],  or  worse  than  ever?" 
"Might  well  suffer  ...  as  much  [as],  if  not  more 
than,"  etc.  "To  be  as  great  a  man  [as],  if  not 
greater  than,  Cromwell."  "  Congress  has  done  all 
[that]  and  more  than  could  be  expected,"  etc.  To 
supply  the  missing  word  in  such  cases  often  im- 
parts an  unpleasant  stiffness  to  the  style ;  but  this 
can  generally  be  avoided  by  a  slight  change  in 
the  construction.  "Has  it  gone  on  as  badly  as 
ever,  or  worse? "  "To  be  as  great  a  man  as  Crom- 
well, if  not  greater."  "Has  done  all  that  could 
be  expected  of  it,  and  more." 

The  next  three  sentences  are  less  easily  made 
grammatical. 

Wisdom  and  experience  taught  him  to  trust  as  much 
or  more  to  the  diplomatic  handling  of  a  situation  than 
to  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  law. 

It  is  not  that  it  merely  makes  life  safer,  but  saner 
and  longer. 

Schools  of  the  progressive  type  have  been  conducted 
long  enough  to  prove  that  just  as  much  or  even  more 
than  the  average  amount  of  the  a  b  c's  can  be  acquired, 
etc. 

The  last  is  a  particularly  bad  construction;  it 
should  be  changed  to  read  " .  .  .  to  prove  that  the 
average  amount,  or  even  more,  of  the  a  b  c's." 


232  COMMON  PARTS 

One  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first,  mystery  stories  based 
on  the  possibilities  of  the  modern  air-ship. 

"Stories"  is  treated  as  if  it  were  common  to 
both  clauses;  whereas  "story"  is  the  word  re- 
quired to  be  supplied  in  the  subordinate  one.  This 
type  can  generally  be  amended  by  some  such 
change  as:  "  One  of  the  first  mystery  stories  based 
...  if  not  the  very  first";  or  by  adopting  the 
form  used  by  Macaulay  in 

.  .  .  and  was  still  among  the  greatest,  if  not  the 
greatest,  of  the  nobles  of  Scotland. 

Another  frequent  violation  of  the  rule  given 
above  occurs  in  such  sentences  as 

What  other  President  ever  has,  or  could,  achieve  so 
much  in  a  short  four  years? 

It  had,  as  all  houses  should,  been  in  tune  with  the 
pleasant,  mediocre  charm  of  the  island. 

In  these  the  rule  is  violated  in  each  case  by 
treating  the  verb  ("achieve"  and  "been")  as  if  it 
were  common  to  both  clauses,  whereas  the  dif- 
ferent auxiliaries  used  in  the  two  clauses  require 
different  forms  of  the  verb. 

This  type  will  almost  always  admit  of  the  em- 
phatic repetition  of  the  verb.1  "What  other  Pres- 
ident ever  has  achieved,  or  could  achieve,"  etc. 
"  It  had  been,  as  all  houses  should  be,  .  .  ." 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  315. 


COMMON  PARTS  233 

.  .  .  just  men  and  women  with  whom  I  had  less  per- 
sonal relations,  and  knew  only  as  representatives  of  the 
animal  species  man. 

This  is  written  as  if  the  common  part  were 
"just  men  and  women  with  whom  I";  in  which 
case  the  sense  would  be  ".  .  .  with  whom  I  had 
.  .  .  relations,  and  with  whom  I  knew."  But 
"just  men  and  women"  —  nothing  more  —  is 
common;  so  we  should  read  "Just  men  and 
women  with  whom  .  .  .  and  whom  I  knew,"  etc. 

In  the  two  examples  that  follow,  the  rule  is  care- 
fully observed,  the  result  in  the  second  case  being 
a  somewhat  over-labored  sentence. 

...  in  these  similarities  the  biologist  finds  convin- 
cing proof  of  man's  origin  from,  and  definite  relation 
to,  other  forms  of  life.  — •  VERNON  KELLOGG. 

Of  all  the  branches  of  science,  none  perhaps  is  to-day, 
none  for  these  many  years  past  has  been,  so  well  known 
to,  even  if  not  understood  by,  most  people,  as  that  of 
geology.  —  SIR  M.  FOSTER. 

The  following  curious  example  of  how  not  to  do 
it  falls  within  no  conceivable  classification. 

Her  choice  of  Ireland  for  the  "avenue"  was  partly 
her  own,  but  —  though  they  were  wise  enough  to  con- 
ceal it  from  her  —  in  greater  measure  by  her  parents. 

This  might  be  made  intelligible  by  changing  the 
final  clause  to  —  "was  due  in  greater  measure  to 
her  parents";  or  simply  by  changing  "by  her 


234  COMMON  PARTS 

parents "  to  "her  parents' "  (possessive) ; or,  again, 
by  changing  the  first  clause  to  read  "was  made 
partly  by  herself." 

In  such  passages  as  the  following,  the  question 
arises  whether,  in  the  one  case,  not,  in  the  other 
case,  no,  is  properly  followed  by  nor. 

It  is  not  allowed  to  diminish  in  numbers,  nor  to  ex- 
ceed, etc.  —  EMERSON. 

Will  any  answer  that  they  are  sure  of  it,  and  that 
there  is  no  fear,  nor  hope,  nor  desire,  nor  labor  .  .  . 
whither  they  go?  —  RUSKIN. 

In  the  first  example,  the  part  common  to  both 
branches  of  the  sentence  is,  "It  is  not  allowed"; 
that  it  is  to  say:  "  It  is  not  allowed  to  diminish  in 
numbers,  nor  [it  is  not  allowed]  to  exceed,"  etc. 
So  that  in  effect,  the  use  of  nor  results  in  a  double 
negative,  which  is,  in  principle  though  not  in 
sound,  as  objectionable  as  "There  is  n't  no  time 
to  do  it." 

In  the  second  example,  the  part  common  to  all 
the  branches  of  the  sentence  is  "there  is  no": 
"there  is  no  fear,  nor  [there  is  no]  hope,  nor  [there 
is  no]  desire,"  etc.  And  again  we  have  the  double 
negative.1 

1  In  both  examples,  of  course,  the  use  of  "neither"  would  make 
"nor"  obligatory.  " It  is  allowed  neither  to  diminish  .  .  .  nor," 
etc.;  "Will  any  answer  .  .  .  that  there  is  neither  fear,  nor  hope, 
nor  desire,"  etc. 


COMMON  PARTS  235 

(In  the  sentence  from  "The  Scarlet  Letter," 
quoted  in  another  connection  on  page  87,  Haw- 
thorne carelessly  used  both  or  and  nor  in  a  con- 
struction similar  to  these.  According  to  our  rule, 
or  should  have  been  used  in  both  cases ;  but,  from 
any  standpoint,  the  change  from  or  to  nor  cannot 
be  justified.) 

Whence  we  derive  the  rule  that  where  a  nega- 
tive clause,  with  either  not  or  no,  is  followed  by  a 
disjunctive  introducing  another  clause  in  the  same 
construction,  or  should  be  used  rather  than  nor. 

The  same  rule  should  be  applied  logically  to 
the  next  example. 

Shakespeare  did  not  invent  the  alphabet,  the  words, 
the  syntax,  the  validity  and  power  of  the  English  lan- 
guage ;  nor  the  English  nation  [did  not  invent]  its  ways 
of  thinking,  its  achievements,  its  character,  nor  [it  did 
not  invent]  the  comedy  and  tragedy  of  human  life.  — 
RUSKIN. 

In  this  case,  it  may  be  said  that,  if  we  assume  a 
change  of  construction,  —  "nor  did  the  English 
nation  invent  its  ways  of  thinking  .  .  .  nor  did  it 
invent  the  comedy  and  tragedy  of  human  life,"  — 
both  nors  are  right.  This  is  quite  true;  but  when 
or  would  be  both  logical  and  unobjectionable  in 
both  places,  there  is  no  occasion  to  depart  from 
the  rule  which  provides  that,  when  the  construc- 
tion is  changed,  no  words  that  are  necessary  to  in- 
dicate the  change  may  be  omitted. 


236  COMMON  PARTS 

The  criticism  is  equally  just  if  we  have  been  led 
by  the  absence  of  any  punctuation  after  "nation " 
to  mistake  Ruskin's  meaning,  which  may  have 
been  that  Shakespeare  did  not  invent  the  English 
nation,  etc. 

These  examples  are  to  be  distinguished  from 
such  sentences  as  the  following,  in  which  the  nor, 
besides  serving  as  a  connective,  supplies  the  nega- 
tive necessary  to  complete  the  sense. 

No  one  could  say  why  it  was  that  his  food  did  not 
nourish  him,  nor  his  unspoken  philosophy  of  life  any 
longer  cover  the  needs  of  his  nature.  —  J.  J.  CHAPMAN. 

The  "common  part "  here  is : "  No  one  could  say 
why  it  was  that  —  not";  and  the  nor,  standing 
for  or  .  .  .  not,  does  away  with  the  necessity  of 
repeating  not  as  well  as  a  portion  of  the  common 
part.  If  or  be  substituted  for  nor,  we  must  say: 
"No  one  could  say  why  it  was  that  his  food  did 
not  nourish  him,  or  that  his  unspoken  philosophy 
of  life  did  not  any  longer  cover  (or  "no  longer  cov- 
ered") the  needs,"  etc. 

Correlatives 

Both  .  .  .  and. 
Either  .  .  .  or. 
Neither  .  .  .  nor. 

Not  (not  only,  simply,  merely,  etc.)  .  .  .  but 
(but  also,  etc.). 


CORRELATIVES  237 

"All  words  that  precede  the  first  of  two  correla- 
tives are  declared  by  their  position  to  be  com- 
mon"  *  to  both  of  the  words,  phrases,  or  sentences 
introduced  by  the  correlatives.  It  follows  that  all 
words  common  to  both,  and  no  others,  should  pre- 
cede the  first  correlative.  All  the  following  exam- 
ples violate  this  rule. 

The  mistake  was  not  confined  to  Europe,  and  the 
confusion  of  thought  which  it  implies,  both  as  to  science 
and  civilization,  was  world-wide.  —  H.  C.  LODGE* 

Both  should  be  placed  after  "as  to,"  or  "as  to" 
should  be  repeated  after  and. 

Yet,  in  spite  of  the  truth  of  this  statement,  European 
nations  have  acted  as  if  it  were  both  international  law, 
and  as  if  it  were  generally  accepted. 

The  phrase  "as  if  it  were,"  being  a  part  of  what 
comes  before  the  first  correlative  (both),  should 
not  be  repeated  before  and;  if  it  is  to  be  repeated, 
both  should  follow  "acted." 

And  is  the  only  proper  correlative  of  both. 

"Which"  differs  from  "that"  and  "who"  in  being 
used  both  as  an  adjective  as  well  as  a  noun. 

Aside  from  the  doubtful  accuracy  of  the  state- 
ment, the  example  illustrates  the  awkwardness  of 
using  "as  well  as"  in  this  connection;  for  if  the 
construction  were  made  otherwise  unobjection- 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  315. 


238  COMMON  PARTS 

able  by  omitting  both,  it  would  still  require  an- 
other "as":  ".  .  .  in  being  used  as  an  adjective 
as  well  as  as  a  noun." 

Fifty  per  cent  of  the  regiment  received  either  decora- 
tions or  were  mentioned  in  despatches. 

"  Regiment "  is  the  last  of  the  words  common  to 
both  clauses,  and  either  should  follow  it  immedi- 
ately: "  either  received  decorations  or  were,"  etc. 

That,  however,  was  a  matter  of  which  either  the  Cru- 
sader was  ignorant,  or  incapable  of  grasping. 

As  "of  which"  does  not  "fit"  with  "grasp- 
ing," it  is  not  common  to  both  correlative  clauses. 
We  must  say,  "a  matter  which  the  Crusader  was 
either  ignorant  of,  or  incapable  of  grasping";  or, 
"which  the  Crusader  either  was  ignorant  of,  or 
was  incapable  of  grasping." 

He  could  neither  make  up  his  mind  to  confess  what 
he  had  done,  nor  to  court  exposure  by  flight. 

"He  could  make  up  his  mind"  is  common  to 
both  correlative  clauses;  therefore  neither  should 
follow  it. 

Cloth  of  gold  neither  seems  to  elate,  nor  cloth  of 
frieze  to  depress  him. 

This  can  hardly  be  made  right  except  by  chang- 
ing the  tense  ("He  seems  neither  to  be  elated  by 
cloth  of  gold  nor  depressed  by  cloth  of  frieze  ") ,  un- 


CORRELATIVES  239 

less  "neither "  is  changed  to  "  not " :  " cloth  of  gold 
seems  not  to  elate,  nor,"  etc. 

President  Harding,  therefore,  will  have  to  find  some 
compromise  that  will  not  only  be  equally  acceptable  to 
Borah  .  .  .  but  one  that  will  go  far  enough  from  the 
stand  of  the  Irreconcilables  to  tease  eight  votes  away 
from  the  Democrats.  —  Newspaper. 

"President  Harding  .  .  .  that  will"  is  com- 
mon to  both  the  correlative  sentences ;  therefore 
"one  that,"  should  be  omitted,  the  following 
"will"  being  allowed  to  remain  for  euphony's 
sake.  If  "not  only"  were  placed  before  "some 
compromise,"  "one  that"  would  be  justified;  but 
the  other  construction  is  less  awkward. 

I  think  this  Congress  can  well  set  the  example,  and 
do  whatever  it  can  properly  so  to  limit  and  restrict  not 
only  these  initial  expenses,  but  to  set  its  face  against 
additional  expenditures  we  are  going  to  be  asked  to 
meet.  —  Congressional  Record. 

"Example"  ends  what  is  common  to  both 
clauses;  the  sentence  should  be  made  to  read: 
"...  example,  and  not  only  do  whatever  .  .  . 
but  set  its  face,"  etc. 

We  have  to  consider  it,  moreover,  not  simply  in  the 
abstract,  as  the  return  of  a  once  hated  feudal  principle, 
but  some  of  the  already  present  concrete  consequences 
of  its  adoption. 

The  sentence  needs  to  be  rewritten:  "We  have 
to  consider  not  only  the  fact  that,  in  the  abstract, 


240  COMMON  PARTS 

it  is  a  return  .  .  .  but  some,"  etc.  Or:  "We  have 
not  simply  to  consider  it  in  the  abstract  .  .  .  but 
to  consider,"  etc.  Or,  and  perhaps  better,  insert 
"in  the  light  of"  after  but:  "We  have  to  consider 
it  not  simply  in  the  abstract  .  .  .  but  in  the  light 
of  some,"  etc. 

We  have  to  consider  not  merely  dragons'  teeth  sown, 
but  already  coming  up. 

"Dragons'  teeth"  being  included  in  what  is 
common,  not  merely  should  follow,  not  precede  it. 
But  the  sentence  is  an  awkward  one,  at  best. 

And  in  your  little  American  valise  and  my  flabby 
black  hand-bag  and  shawl-straps  and  a  small  satchel, 
I  carried  not  only  everything  I  used,  but  collected  a 
whole  library  of  books,  etc.  —  W.  JAMES. 

"I"  is  the  last  of  the  words  common  to  both 
correlative  sentences,  and  not  only  should  follow  it 
immediately:  "I  not  only  carried  .  .  .  but  col- 
lected," etc. 

As  in  Massachusetts  no  churches  were  allowed  ex- 
cept such  as  partook  of  the  "  New  England  way,"  it  fol- 
lowed that  not  only  were  those  who  could  not  join  them 
politically  disfranchised,  but  that  they  and  their  child- 
ren were  cut  off  from  the  advantages  of  Christian  fel- 
lowship and  education. 

The  common  part  ends  with  "it  followed"; 
therefore,  not  only  should  be  placed  before  "  that," 
and  the  following  sentence  be  so  changed  as  to 


CORRELATIVES  241 

read  "not  only  that  those  who  could  not  join  them 
were  .  .  .  disfranchised." 

Failing  that,  however,  they  were  not  only  debarred 
from  Christian  communion  .  .  .  but  their  children 
were  also  denied  baptism,  etc. 

Not  only  should  follow  the  only  common  words, 
"Failing  that,  however";  euphony  then  calls  for 
the  transposition  of  "they"  and  "were." 

The  result  proved  that  never  in  the  history  of  Phila- 
delphia had  a  series  [of  lectures]  been  given  in  which 
not  only  had  the  interest  been  sustained,  but  had  con- 
stantly deepened.  —  EDWARD  BOK. 

So  far  as  the  correlatives  are  concerned,  the 
difficulty  is  easily  cured  —  by  changing  "not  only 
had  the  interest "  to  "the  interest  not  only  had  " ; 
but  the  author  has  made  himself  offer  the  aston- 
ishing statement  that  the  result  of  this  particular 
series  proved  that  no  series  had  ever  before  aroused 
a  sustained  and  deepening  interest  in  Philadelphia! 
The  presumption  is  that  he  intended  to  write  "  so  " 
before  "sustained"  and  before  "constantly." 

Neither  is  sometimes,  but  always  incorrectly, 
used  with  or  as  its  correlative. 

The  truth  is,  of  course,  that  neither  Republicanism 
or  [nor]  Democracy,  in  its  traditional  expression,  etc. 

There  is  neither  right  nor  wrong  —  gratitude  or  [nor] 
its  opposite  —  claim  or  [nor]  duty  —  paternity  or  [nor] 
sonship. 

17 


NUMBER 

I.   Of  Verbs 

THE  verb  should  always  agree  in  number  with 
its  subject. 

There  are  several  classes  of  cases  in  which  it  is 
important  to  bear  this  simple  rule  in  mind. 

I .  When  the  subject  is  singular  and  its  comple- 
ment is  plural,  or  vice  versa. 

The  curse  of  the  country  is  the  profligacy,  the  rapa- 
city, the  corruption  of  the  law-makers,  the  base  subser- 
viency of  the  administrators  of  the  law,  and  the  frauds 
of  the  makers  of  paper  money.1 

And  yet  I  thought  that  a  mind  that  could  talk  me 
blind  and  black  on  mathematics  and  logics,  and  whose 
favorite  recreation  is  works  on  those  subjects,  etc.  — 
W.  JAMES. 

The  first  fruits  of  his  secularization  was  [were]  an  en- 
gagement upon  the  boards  of  Old  Drury.  —  LAMB 

But  that  which  most  concerns  us  here  are  [is]  not  the 
economic  conditions,  etc.  —  H.  C.  LODGE.  (The  sole- 
cism here  is  made  more  glaring  by  the  singular  verb 
"concerns"  in  the  subordinate  clause.) 

In  life  it  is  variety  and  pleasure  which  relieve  the  irk- 
someness  of  the  steady  grind. 

1  Cobbett  manufactured  this  sentence,  in  pursuance  of  his  gen- 
eral plan  to  air  his  views  of  the  state  of  the  country  while  illustrat- 
ing his  point. 


OF  VERBS  243 

The  only  thing  that  I  noticed  in  the  whole  show 
were  [was]  the  decorations  of  the  hall. 

Emerson,  who,  as  we  have  had  occasion  to  no- 
tice in  another  connection,  was  sometimes  capable 
of  peculiar  —  to  say  the  least  —  constructions, 
perpetrated  this  in  his  essay  on  Civilization :  — 

The  Chinese  and  Japanese,  though  each  complete  in 
his  way,  is  different  from  the  man  of  Madrid  or  the 
man  of  New  York. 

2.  When  a  subordinate  clause,  or  phrase,  with  a 
singular  noun  comes  between  a  plural  subject  and 
its  verb,  or  vice  versa. 

Our  growing  population  with  its  higher  standards  of 
living  demand  [demands]  increasing  food-supplies. 

The  partition  which  the  two  ministers  made  of  the 
powers  of  government  were  [was]  singularly  happy.  — 
MACAULAY. 

And  withal  our  pretension  of  property  and  even  of 
self-hood  are  [is]  fading  with  the  rest.  — •  EMERSON. 

There  is  much  in  these  constant  criminations  and 
recriminations  which  disgust  [disgusts]  many  men  who 
are  still  hesitating  as  to  the  vote  they  shall  cast.  (The 
antecedent  of  "which"  is  "much,"  not  "criminations 
and  recriminations.") 

This  point  is  illustrated  "abundantly"  by  the 
Messrs.  Fowler,1  because  "it  appears  that  real 
doubt  can  exist  on  the  subject,"  a  reviewer  of  the 
first  edition  of  their  book  having  remarked  that 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  66. 


244  NUMBER 

a  sentence  of  theirs,  "'No  one  but  schoolmasters 
and  schoolboys  knows'  is  exceedingly  poor  Eng- 
lish, if  it  is  not  absolutely  bad  grammar." 

If  two  or  more  nouns  can  fairly  be  considered  as 
together  expressing  a  single  idea,  a  singular  verb 
may  be  used  with  them. 

The  nobility  and  loftiness  of  his  style  is  apparent  in 
every  line. 

3.  With  collective  nouns,  or  "nouns  of  multi- 
tude."1 

The  list  of  such  nouns  is  long,  and  seems  to  be 
capable  of  indefinite  expansion,  so  as  to  include 
any  word  that  represents  the  association  of  two 
or  more  persons;  those  of  more  or  less  common 
occurrence  are  "people,"  "public,"  "crowd," 
"nation,"  "ministry,"  "cabinet,"  "committee," 
"corporation,"  "class,"  "generation";  and  the 
noun  "  number"  itself,  which  is  almost  invariably 
treated  as  a  plural. 

The  following  examples  will  give  a  still  imper- 
fect idea  of  the  scope  of  this  category. 

The  policy  of  His  Majesty's  Government,  with 
which  the  Government  of  India  are  in  full  accord,  etc. 

—  MORLEY. 

1  "Nouns  of  numbers,  or  multitude,  such  as  Mob,  Parliament, 
Rabble,  House  of  Commons,  Regiment,  Court  of  King's  Bench, 
Den  of  Thieves,  and  the  like."  —  COBBETT,  ed.  of  1906,  p.  96. 
Observe  that  he  places  Parliament  between  "  Mob  "  and  "  Rabble," 
with  the  House  of  Commons  next  in  order. 


OF  VERBS  245 

Nor  should  the  4LL  be  confused  with  the  so-called 
"shop-committee"  plan,  in  which  a  group  of  employees 
are  elected,  etc. 

Amid  the  joyous  troop  who  give  in  to  the  charivari 
comes  now  and  then  a  sad-eyed  boy.  —  EMERSON. 

The  mass  of  mankind  have  neither  force  of  intellect 
enough  to  apprehend  them  .  .  .  nor  force  of  character 
enough  to  follow  them.  —  ARNOLD. 

The  bulk  of  mankind  believe  in  two  gods.  —  EMER- 
SON. 

.  .  .  the  comfortable  assurance  that,  although  the 
bulk  of  her  neighbors  were  going  to  hell,  he  himself  was 
one  of  the  everlasting  saints. 

The  whole  of  these  proceedings  were  so  agreeable  to 
Mr.  Pecksniff,  that  he  stood  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon 
the  floor,  etc.  —  DICKENS. 

The  country  meet  the  event  [Washington's  refusal 
to  accept  a  third  term]  with  reluctance;  but  they  do 
not  feel,  etc.  —  OLIVER  WOLCOTT,  quoted  in  Irving's 
"Washington." 

To-day  it  is  the  Zionist  portion  of  this  remnant,  who, 
in  the  statement  .  .  .  claim  the  whole  of  southern 
Syria.  —  A.  T.  CLAY. 

In  America,  where  there  is  a  large  unassimilated  for- 
eign element,  to  whom  the  history  and  traditions  of  our 
language  suggest  little  of  value. 

In  the  following  example,  the  use  of  are  is  justi- 
fied because  the  actual  subject  is  "95,"  not  "per 
cent,"  the  meaning  being  "95  in  every  hundred." 

It  is  a  bit  hard  to  admit  that  your  child  is  an  average 
child ;  but  95  per  cent  are  average,  and  always  will  be. 


246  NUMBER 

The  word  people  is  treated,  perhaps,  less  fre- 
quently as  a  singular  noun  than  any  other  of  its 
class,  even  when  used  as  equivalent  to ' '  populace, ' ' 
or  in  the  more  distinctly  singular  sense  of  "na- 
tion." But  occasionally  we  find  it  properly  used 
with  the  singular  verb,  as  in  this  sentence  of  Mr. 
Arnold,  already  quoted  in  another  connection:  — 

France  has  reaped  from  [the  Revolution]  one  fruit, 
the  natural  and  legitimate  fruit  .  .  .  she  is  the  coun- 
try in  Europe  where  the  people  is  most  alive. 

There  would  seem  to  be  no  excuse  for  using  the 
plural  verb  and  pronoun,  when  the  fact  that  the 
noun  is  singular  in  form  is  emphasized  by  giving  it 
the  indefinite  article. 

To  say  that  such  a  people  are  unassimilable  is 
merely  to  confess  that  you  will  not  permit  them  to  be 
assimilated. 

In  Great  Britain  it  seems  to  be  the  almost  uni- 
versal rule  to  treat  all  collective  nouns  having  to 
do  with  political  affairs  as  plural ;  as  in  the  exam- 
ple from  Lord  Morley  above.  On  the  whole,  one 
must  admit  that  there  is  a  certain  advantage  in  an 
unalterable  rule  like  that  which  obtains  in  French, 
that  every  noun  singular  in  form  takes  a  singular 
verb  and  is  referred  to  by  a  singular  pronoun, 
under  any  and  all  circumstances. 

Good  usage  seems  to  sanction  the  use  of  either 
singular  or  plural  verbs  with  these  nouns  of  multi- 


OF  VERBS  247 

tude,  subject  only  to  the  irrefragable  rule  that  they 
must  not  be  used  with  both  singular  and  plural 
verbs  in  the  same  sentence,  as  they  are  used  in 
this  one :  — 

They  say,  however,  rightly  or  wrongly,  that  the  pub- 
lic is  sick  of  war,  that  the  public  wish  to  forget  the  war. 

This  is  the  simplest  form  of  violation  of  the  rule. 
The  "Atlantic"  is  strongly  inclined  to  insist  that, 
in  all  cases  of  this  type,  uncomplicated  by  the  ele- 
ments referred  to  in  the  next  paragraph,  the  verb 
shall  be  in  the  singular,  the  noun  being  singular  in 
form. 

A  less  glaring,  but  equally  objectionable,  viola- 
tion of  the  rule  —  or  of  what  may  be  called  a  corol- 
lary of  the  rule  —  occurs  when  the  noun  itself  is 
first  used  with  a 'singular  verb,  and  is  thereafter 
referred  to  by  a  plural  pronoun  with  a  plural  verb, 
as  in  the  quotation  from  Professor  Clay  above, 
and  in  the  following  examples :  — 

Your  committee  has  the  honor  to  report  that  they  have 
considered  the  matter  referred  to  them,  etc.  (Either 
"have  the  honor,"  or  "it  has  considered.") 

The  Cabinet  has  been  devoting  much  of  its  time 
lately  to  certain  aspects  of  the  foreign  relations  of  this 
government,  and  it  is  reported  that  they  are  fully  agreed 
as  to  the  policy  to  be  pursued. 

The  jury  was  sent  out  about  noon,  and  are  said  to 
have  agreed  at  once,  but  to  have  postponed  returning 
their  verdict  until  they  had  had  their  dinner. 


248  NUMBER 

The  crowd  was  quiet  enough  at  first,  but  as  the  orator 
became  more  and  more  vehement,  it  was  evident  they 
too  were  rapidly  warming  up. 

It  is  natural  to  follow  a  noun  singular  in  form 
with  a  singular  verb ;  but  the  tendency  is  strong, 
when  the  noun  is  to  be  replaced  by  a  pronoun,  to 
think  of  the  individuals  composing  the  association 
and  change  to  the  plural  form. 

4.  The  indeterminate  pronouns  each,  either, 
neither,  every,  should  always  be  used  with  a  singu- 
lar verb. 

The  neglect  occurs  chiefly  when  other  words,  in- 
cluding a  plural  noun,  come  between  such  pronoun 
and  its  verb. 

And  so  each  of  his  portraits  are  not  only  "a  piece  of 
history,"  but,  etc.  —  STEVENSON.  . 

On  careful  examination  it  is  found  that  the  material 
of  which  each  of  these  layers  .  .  .  are  composed,  was 
for  the  most  part,  etc.  —  HUXLEY. 

He  asked  the  gardener  whether  either  of  the  ladies 
were  at  home.  —  TROLLOPE. 

Neither  of  these  cities  were  inhabited  by  men  of  such 
independent  spirit  as  the  men  of  Ballyards.  —  ST. 
JOHN  ERVINE. 

Mr.  Balfour  ...  is  not,  after  all,  a  typical  Tory; 
and  his  every  taste  — •  his  golf,  his  music,  his  Burne-Jones 
pictures,  his  philosophy,  his  blue-and -white  China  — • 
proclaim  him  a  very  different  being  from  the  plain  Tory 
of  the  stories.  —  E.  T.  RAYMOND. 


OF  VERBS  249 

"Every  is  not  now  used  (except  in  the  most  for- 
mal writing,  when  its  use  is  based  on  its  occasional 
occurrence  alone  in  the  Bible)  unless  with  a  noun, 
—  when  it  may  be  regarded  as  an  adjective,  — 
and  in  the  forms  everyone  and  everybody. 

Everybody  present,  except  a  few  chronic  malcon- 
tents, were  [was]  of  opinion  that  the  measure,  or  some 
similar  one,  must  be  passed  at  once. 

Of  all  the  examples  under  this  paragraph  it  may 
be  said  that  the  use  of  the  plural  form  of  the  verb 
can  hardly  be  conceived  except  for  the  intervening 
clauses,  with  their  plural  nouns  standing  hard  by 
the  verbs. 

Each  is  often  used  in  apposition  with  a  plural 
subject;  in  such  cases  the  verb  should  be  in  the 
singular;  although  the  effect  may  be  clumsy  and 
unpleasant,  it  can  generally  be  avoided  by  placing 
each  after  the  verb. 

The  Essays  on  Warren  Hastings,  Barere,  and  Cro- 
ker's  edition  of  Boswell,  each  contain  some  of  the  finest 
examples  of  Macaulay's  peculiar  powers  as  an  essayist. 

Good  English  demands  "contains,"  each  being 
the  subject;  but  the  difficulty  can  be  got  over  by 
changing  to  "The  Essays  .  .  .  contain,  each,  some 
of  the  finest  examples,"  etc. 

With  the  pairs  of  disjunctives,  either  —  or,  and 
neither  —  nor,  a  singular  verb  should  be  used  if  all 
the  elements  disjoined  are  in  the  singular. 


250  NUMBER 

You  can  take  your  choice:  either  the  treasurership, 
or  the  secretaryship,  or  the  chairmanship  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  are  [is]  open  to  you ;  but  I  '11  be  d d 

if  you  can  have  all  three. 

Neither  the  Secretary  of  State,  nor  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce,  nor  the  Attorney-General  are  candidates 
[is  a  candidate]  for  the  position. 

Of  course,  neither  Socrates  nor  Plato,  neither  Zeno 
nor  Epicurus  were  modern  philosophers  [was  a  modern 
philosopher]. 

When  either  of  the  elements  is  plural  in  form, 
the  verb  should  be  in  the  plural,  even  though  the 
noun  immediately  preceding  it  is  singular. 

Neither  whole  nations,  nor  individual  man,  retain 
the  right,  etc. 

5.  The  use  of  one  of  the  prepositions  or  preposi- 
tional phrases,  with,  after,  in  addition  to,  together 
with,  as  well  as,  etc.,  which  are  practically  equiva- 
lent to  "and,"  frequently  suggests  a  plural  verb 
when  the  singular  form  is  strictly  required. 

The  President,  with  several  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
were  [was]  taken  to  the  rendezvous  on  the  Mayflower. 

As  wave  after  wave  of  children's  classes  have  [has] 
broken  against  her,  she  has  become  quite  strong. 

Geography,  as  well  as  history  and  mathematics,  are 
[is]  among  the  subjects  in  which  the  school  has  been 
signally  successful. 

The  novelty  of  his  method,  combined  with  his  con- 
siderable literary  skill,  render  [renders]  his  book  both 
interesting  and  exciting. 


OF  VERBS  251 

In  such  cases  as  the  first  and  third  little  seems 
to  be  gained  by  using  the  preposition  instead  of 
"and."  The  following  example  is  fairly  typical 
of  a  class  in  which  the  preposition  forces  one  to 
choose  between  bad  English  and  an  absurdity. 

Jones,  together  with  his  brother,  are  the  only  men  in 
the  county  capable  of  such  a  feat. 

"Jones"  alone  is  the  subject  of  the  verb;  but 
the  singular  verb  is  impossible.  Such  sentences 
should  never  be  written. 

One  exception  to  this  rule  that  a  verb  must  al- 
ways agree  in  number  with  its  subject  is  to  be 
noted:  namely,  in  the  case  of  certain  measures, 
weights,  or  sums  of  money  regarded  as  single 
wholes. 

Fifty  feet  is  the  limit  of  height  allowed  for  buildings 
on  that  property. 

Ten  pounds  is  the  smallest  amount  one  can  buy. 

Fifty  dollars  is  a  good  deal  of  money  to  pay  for  per- 
haps twenty  minutes'  entertainment. 

The  following  exceptional  case,  which  involves 
neither  verb  nor  pronoun,  but  in  which  the  use  of 
a  plural  noun  seems  to  impart  a  collective  quality 
to  the  word  "standard,"  falls  within  no  possible 
classification. 

The  public  school  should  be  succeeded  by  the  Uni- 
versity, the  University  by  some  profession  in  which  a 


252  NUMBER 

Perfectly  different  standard  of  person  from  that  to  which 
his  father  belonged  made  honourable  careers.  —  E.  F. 
BENSON.  (Change  to  "persons  of  a  perfectly  differ- 
ent standard.") 

n.  Of  Pronouns 

This  subject  is  closely  connected,  in  one  phase 
at  least,  with  that  of  the  number  of  verbs  used 
with  collective  nouns ;  but  it  needs,  perhaps,  some 
further  development. 

(As  the  relative  pronouns  who,  which,  what,  and 
that,  have  no  plural  forms,  our  remarks  apply 
only  to  the  use  of  they,  their,  theirs,  them,  instead 
of  it,  its.} 

1.  Collective  nouns,  if  used  in  the  first  place 
with  a  verb  in  the  singular,  should  not  thereafter 
be  referred  to  by  plural  pronouns. 

For  his  family  was  dear  to  him,  as  he  was  to  them. 
And  see  the  examples  given  under  (3)  in  sub- 
heading I  of  this  section. 

2.  They,  them,  their,  theirs  should  never  be  used 
in  referring  back  to  singular  antecedents. 

Must  this  middle-class  union  be  required  to  show  by 
their  [its]  votes,  by  their  [its]  political  action,  that  they 
[it]  too  constitute  [constitutes]  a  class,  that  they  [it]  too 
have  [has]  interests,  etc. 

I  should  like  to  give  the  two  sides,  each  so  typical  of 
the  point  of  view  they  [it]  represent^]. 

Almost  every  member,  young  and  old,  showed  by  his 
manner  or  some  little  attention  that  their  [his]  sym- 
pathies were  with  the  exile. 


OF  PRONOUNS  253 

When  the  gender  of  a  singular  personal  antece- 
dent is  double  or  indeterminate,  good  usage  per- 
mits the  use  of  he,  him,  his,  to  represent  either 
gender  or  both. 

Everybody  is  discontented  with  their  [his]  lot  in  life. 

This  was  one  of  many  cases  arising  out  of  the  same 
transaction  in  which  neither  party  desired  to  fulfil 
their  [his]  contract. 

Imagine  the  emotions  of  a  parent  when  told,  not  only 
that  their  [his  or  her]  only  son  had  fallen  in  France,  but 
that  his  body  had  never  been  identified. 

In  a  large  majority  of  cases  arising  under  this  statute 
the  plaintiff  is  unable  to  prove  what  is  requisite  to  main- 
tain his  or  her  claim. 

His  or  her,  and  he  or  she,  are  always  unpleasant, 
but  may  be  resorted  to  when  his,  alone,  seems  in- 
adequate, or  when  legal  precision  of  phraseology 
is  necessary.  It  is  well  said  that  "it  is  a  real  de- 
ficiency in  English  that  we  have  no  pronoun  like 
the  French  soi,  son,  to  stand  for  him  or  her,  his  or 
her."* 

Who  meets  him,  or  who  meets  her,  in  the  street, 
sees  that  they  are  ripe  to  be  each  other's  victim.  — 
EMERSON. 

This  peculiar  sentence  is  open  to  criticism  in 
several  respects.  Grammatically,  with  the  use  of 
the  disjunctive  "or"  and  a  singular  verb, — 
"sees,"  —  the  pronoun  referring  to  the  two  who's 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  69. 


254  NUMBER 

should  be  singular,  not  plural;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  plural  "they"  requires  "victims,"  not  victim. 
But  how  can  a  person  who  meets  only  "him"  or 
only  "her,"  see  anything  as  to  their  relations  to 
each  other? 

At  this  point,  perhaps,  better  than  at  any  other, 
it  is  fitting  to  say  that,  if  Emerson,  Ruskin,  and 
many  other  masters  of  thought  and  word  are  crit- 
icized in  these  pages  as  if  they  were  the  under- 
graduate authors  of  themes  in  a  course  in  English 
Composition,  it  is  only  because  their  writings  are 
accessible  and  those  of  the  undergraduate  are  not. 
It  is  not  through  the  aberrations  from  the  straight- 
est  paths  of  syntax  that  great  writers  have  made 
themselves  great,  but  through  a  much  larger  some- 
thing with  which  these  pages  do  not  attempt  to 
deal. 


OMISSION  OF  WORDS 

I.  Verbs 

A  VERB  may  be  omitted  only  when  the  form 
required  by  strict  grammatical  construction  is  the 
same  as  that  previously  used. 

If  he  had  been  asked  .  .  .  what  he  thought  of  young 
women  and  society,  he  would  probably  have  stigmatized 
them  as  he  himself  had  been  formerly:  "not  nice."  — 
P.  L.  FORD. 

The  mood  changes  here  from  active  to  passive, 
and  "stigmatized "  should  be  repeated  after  "had 
been." 

As  the  result  of  a  sermon  preached  by  Cotton  the 
contest  .  .  .  was  postponed,  and  the  Newtown  settlers 
[were]  granted  additional  land. 

A  certain  T G ,  for  an  unspecified  crime, 

was  banished,  his  house  pulled  down,  and  all  English- 
men [were]  enjoined,  etc. 

The  omission  of  was  after  house  is  permissible, 
but  as  "Englishmen"  requires  a  different  form, 
were  must  be  supplied.  The  sentence  would  then 
read  more  smoothly  if  another  "and"  were  in- 
serted after  "banished." 

Had  it  not  been  for  them,  the  Armada  might  indeed 
have  been  invincible,  and  the  civilization  of  North 


256  OMISSION  OF  WORDS 

America  [might  have]  been  Latin  instead  of  Anglo- 
Saxon. 

As  it  was  written,  without  the  words  in  brack- 
ets, the  sentence  has  a  very  harsh  sound.  It  would 
have  been  better  to  omit  the  verb  entirely  than  to 
retain  "been"  only.1 

II.  Nouns 

1.  When  the  same  noun  is  the  subject  of  more 
than  one  verb  in  the  same  sentence,  it  is  omitted 
before  all  the  verbs  except  the  first,  unless  it  is  re- 
peated for  emphasis.    The  main  statement  needs 
no  exemplification.    A  familiar  example  of  the 
exception  occurs  in  the  address  of  Serjeant  Buz- 
fuz  to  the  jury  in  Bardell  vs.  Pickwick. 

Mr.  Bardell  was  a  man  of  his  word,  Mr.  Bardell  was 
no  deceiver,  Mr.  Bardell  was  once  a  single  gentleman 
himself,  etc. 

2.  When  the  same  noun  is  the  object  of  more 
than  one  verb  in  the  same  sentence,  it  may  be 
omitted  after  all  of  such  verbs  except  the  last.   If 
it  is  used  after  the  first,  its  place  must  be  supplied 
by  a  pronoun  after  the  others. 

They  held  up  and  maltreated  and  robbed  the  travel- 
ers; or 

They  held  up  the  travelers,  and  maltreated  them  and 
robbed  them. 

1  See  The  King's  English,  p.  251,  for  a  rule  which  would  include 
all  these  examples,  but  which  is  rather  too  complicated  to  be 
included  in  this  book. 


PRONOUNS  257 

III.  Pronouns 

The  omission  of  relative  pronouns  has  been  re- 
ferred to  in  the  section  devoted  to  such  words. 
As  to  other  pronouns,  it  may  be  said  generally 
that  the  same  rules  apply  to  them  as  to  nouns; 
with  the  additional  remark  that  they  are  much 
more  likely  to  be  repeated  for  emphasis,  as  sub- 
jects, before,  or  as  objects,  after,  a  series  of  verbs. 
"He  came,  he  saw,  and  he  conquered,"  would  be 
less  exceptional  than  "Caesar  came,  Caesar  saw, 
and  Caesar  conquered."  Of  course,  one  must  be 
certain  that  it  is  the  same  pronoun  that  is  omitted 
before  or  after  each  verb. 

He  determined  to  discharge  his  conscience,  requested 
an  audience  of  the  King,  spoke  earnestly  of  the  dan- 
gers .  .  .  and  condemned  the  lawless  cruelties  that 
the  soldiers  had  committed.  —  MACAULAY. 

In  any  other  connection,  the  omission  of  a  pro- 
noun is  due  to  ignorance  or  carelessness,  as  in  the 
following  sentence,  where  the  author  evidently 
mistook  his  that  for  a  relative  pronoun ;  otherwise 
he  would  hardly  have  omitted  "it." 

Timothy  gazed  at  her  with  an  expression  so  stupid 
and  uncomprehending  that,  had  it  truthfully  indicated 
his  mental  capacity,  [it]  would  have  landed  him  in  a 
public  institution. 

He  might  properly  have  written  "  with  a  stupid 
and  uncomprehending  expression  that." 

18 


258  OMISSION  OF  WORDS 

IV.  The  Conjunction  "That" 

The  omission  of  that  is  said,  by  the  authors  of 
"The  King's  English,"  to  be  "quite  legitimate, 
though  often  unpleasant." 1  The  statement  seems 
to  be  contradictory  in  its  terms;  for  inasmuch 
as,  logically,  the  conjunction  must  always  be  sup- 
plied, it  can  be  only  rhetorically  that  its  omission 
is  "legitimate";  and  from  that  standpoint  it  can 
be  legitimate  only  when  it  is  not  "unpleasant,"  or 
when  the  sentence  runs  more  smoothly,  or  "sounds 
better,"  without  it. 

When  that  immediately  precedes  the  sentence 
it  governs,  and  is  itself  immediately  preceded  by 
some  verb  like  "say,"  "think,"  and  the  like,  it 
can  often  be  omitted,  not  only  without  offense, 
but  with  advantage,  in  any  except  dignified  and 
formal  writing. 

He  said  [that]  he  would  go. 

I  thought  [that]  there  must  be  something  wrong. 

She  forgot  [that]  she  was  to  ask  her  mother's  advice 
before  she  took  any  further  step. 

Although  he  knew  [that]  he  had  done  wrong,  he  gave 
no  sign  of  contrition. 

But,  even  in  such  less  formal  composition,  the 
omission  of  that  becomes  unpleasant  after  almost 
any  of  the  verbs  that  are  synonymous  with,  or, 
1  Page  356. 


THE  CONJUNCTION   "THAT"  259 

perhaps,  more  emphatic  than,  "say"  and  "think." 
If  we  substitute  "remarked,"  or  "observed,"  or 
"answered,"  or  "exclaimed,"  or  "cried  out,"  for 
"said,"  in  the  first  example,  or  "reflected"  for 
"thought"  in  the  second,  we  can  hardly  do  with- 
out the  conjunction. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  next  examples,  the 
presence  of  that,  in  the  first  two,  adds,  and,  in  the 
others,  would  add,  to  the  dignity  of  the  style. 

The  people,  who  thought  that  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth  would  automatically  emerge  after  the  bloody 
conflict. 

We  do  not  forget  that  an  ideal  can  be  used  to  chill  us 
and  make  us  despair. 

I  hardly  imagine  [that]  there  exists  a  profound  scien- 
tific thinker,  who  has,  etc. 

My  own  opinion  is  [that]  this  addition  to  my  tor- 
tures will  do  me  no  good  —  but  I  cannot  hold  out 
against  my  son. 

I  notice  such  mistakes  as  have  been  pointed  out  to 
me,  but  I  am  afraid  [that]  many  more  might  be  de- 
tected in  a  careful  revision. 

For,  though  Londoners  understand  [that]  the  Guild- 
hall pigeons  have  as  much  right  to  the  place  as  the 
Aldermen,  etc.1 

The  place  of  that  as  a  conjunction  is  sometimes 
filled  by  a  comma,  as  in 

1  In  the  last  five,  the  idea  of  "think"  is  variously  expressed  in 
the  verbs  or  phrases  preceding  the  conjunction. 


260  OMISSION  OF  WORDS 

The  fact  is,  no  such  man  .  .  .  ever  sat  ...  in  the 
editorial  chair. 

Be  sure,  the  facts  themselves  are  written  in  that 
color  in  a  book  which  we  shall  all  of  us  ...  have  to 
read  our  page  of,  some  day  —  RUSKIN. 

A  learned  physician  tells  us  the  fact  is  invariable 
with  the  Neapolitan.  —  EMERSON. 

You  may  be  sure,  the  new-born  man  is  not  inert.  — 

EMERSON.1 

The  next  four  examples  are  all  taken  from  the 
same  work  of  Ruskin,2  in  whose  writings  loose  and 
careful  constructions  follow  each  other  often  in 
the  same  paragraph. 

You  may  think,  perhaps,  [that]  a  Greek  knight  would 
have  had  a  lower  estimate  of  women  than  this  Chris- 
tian lover. 

You  cannot  think  that  the  buckling  on  of  the  knight's 
armor  by  his  lady's  hand  was  a  mere  caprice  of  roman- 
tic fashion. 

That  is  to  say,  we  think  that  a  reverent  and  tender 
duty  is  due  to  one  whose  affection  we  still  doubt. 

.  .  .  the  moment  we  find  [that]  we  can  agree  as  to 
anything  that  should  be  done. 

Even  in  the  simple  constructions  we  have  thus 
far  considered,  the  omission  of  that  may  be  objec- 
tionable as  tending  to  mislead. 

I  think  he  would  discover  [that]  the  scheme  un- 
folded ...  is  a  perfectly  intelligible  one.  (Here 

1  This  construction  was  very  frequently  used  by  Emerson. 
1  Sesame  and  Lilies. 


THE  CONJUNCTION   "THAT"  261 

"scheme,"  without  that,  may  be  mistaken  for  the  ob- 
ject of  "discover.") 

The  omission  of  that  is  always  objectionable, 
—  and  we  should  say,  therefore,  not  legitimate,  — 
when  a  parenthetical  clause  comes  before  the  sen- 
tence which  that,  understood  but  not  expressed, 
introduces. 

The  speaker  maintained  that  it  was  indefensible 
[that,]  merely  because  the  material  interests  of  their 
constituents  were  involved,  Southern  Congressmen 
should  throw  all  their  long-avowed  principles  to  the 
winds.  —  Congressional  Record. 

Here,  again,  the  omission  of  that  tends  to  lead 
the  reader  on  a  false  scent,  as  if  the  action  of  the 
Congressmen  were  condemned  because  their  con- 
stituents' material  interests  were  involved,  rather 
than  because  their  action  was  due  to  that  fact. l 

If  that  is  omitted  before  the  first  of  a  series  of 
similar  clauses  in  the  same  construction,  it  should 
be  omitted  before  all  the  others;  on  the  other 
hand,  if  it  is  required  with  a  subsequent  clause, 
it  should  not  be  omitted  in  the  first  instance. 

But  there  are  some  of  you  .  .  .  who  think  life  has 
no  such  close,  that  it  is  to  float,  etc.  (As  that  is  necessary 
before  "it  is"  it  should  be  supplied  before  "life.") 

1  See  the  quotations  from  the  London  Times  given  in  The  King 's 
English  on  pp.  356,  357.  "  In  some  of  these  the  motive  is  obvious, 
to  avoid  one  that  clause  depending  on  another;  the  end  was  good, 
but  the  means  bad;  a  more  thorough  recasting  was  called  for." 


262  OMISSION  OF  WORDS 

V.  Repetition  of  Conjunction  "That" 

In  the  class  of  cases  referred  to  above,  in  which 
a  clause  is  interpolated  between  that  and  the  sen- 
tence it  governs,  the  conjunction  is  frequently, 
but  almost  always  improperly,  repeated  after  the 
interpolated  clause. 

They  said  that,  by  laws  curbing  monopoly  and  in- 
troducing "the  new  freedom,"  and  by  bringing  the 
government  to  that  "simplicity  and  economy  befitting 
a  democratic  government,"  that  they  would  lift  the 
burden,  etc. 

"The  King's  English,"  under  the  heading 
"Fresh  Starts,"  says  nothing  more  severe  of  this 
"trick  of  taking  breath  in  the  middle  of  a  sentence 
by  means  of  a '  resumptive  that '  or  the  like,"  than 
that  it  should  be  avoided,  "  especially  when  it  is  a 
confession  rather  of  the  writer's  short-windedness 
than  of  the  unwieldy  length  of  his  sentence."1 
There  can  hardly  be  degrees  of  culpability  in  this 
matter;  and  if  the  sentence  is  so  long  and  un- 
wieldy that  the  thread  has  to  be  picked  up  by  a 
second  that,  it  should  be  recast. 

The  objections  to  the  repetition  of  that  do  not 
apply,  however,  when,  as  in  the  following  extract 
from  Matthew  Arnold's  "  Function  of  Criticism," 
the  thread  is  picked  up  with  a  modification  of  the 
original  subject. 

1  Page  330. 


REPETITION  OF  CONJUNCTION  "THAT"    263 

Where  shall  we  find  language  innocent  enough,  how 
shall  we  make  the  spotless  purity  of  our  intentions  evi- 
dent enough,  to  enable  us  to  say  to  the  political  Eng- 
lishman that  the  British  constitution  itself,  which,  seen 
from  the  practical  side,  looks  such  a  magnificent  organ 
of  prowess  and  virtue,  seen  from  the  speculative  side, 
—  with  its  compromises,  its  love  of  facts,  its  horror  of 
theory,  its  studied  avoidance  of  clear  thoughts,  — 
that,  seen  from  this  side,  our  august  constitution  some- 
times looks  —  forgive  me,  shade  of  Lord  Somers!  —  a 
colossal  machine  for  the  manufacture  of  Philistines? 


DIVERS  MATTERS 

Hanging  Participle 

THE  nature  of  this  phenomenon  will  sufficiently 
appear  from  the  examples  we  give.  The  partici- 
pial clauses  are  all  "in  the  air,"  so  to  speak,  when 
we  should  naturally  expect  to  find  the  participle 
agreeing  with  the  noun  that  follows.  Such  clauses 
are  more  likely  to  be  found  at  the  beginning  of  a 
sentence  than  elsewhere,  and  are  less  disconcert- 
ing there ;  but  an  ingeniously  careless  writer  may 
plant  one  anywhere.  The  first  example  represents 
the  most  common  form  of  this  particular  "un- 
grammaticism. ' ' 

Talking  with  Senator  the  other  day,  he  re- 
marked upon  the  apparent  utter  lack  of  interest  of 
senators  in  the  most  important  debates. 

While  standing  still,  a  hunting  eagle  swooped  over 
the  brow  of  the  hill,  etc. 

Though  entirely  confident  of  the  outcome,  the  situation 
is  one  that  demands  the  utmost  vigilance,  etc. 

While  censured  for  his  various  acts  of  inhumanity 
...  no  action  was  taken  against  Moseley,  by  the 
authorities. 

But  having  taken  the  plunge,  the  cutaneous  glow  and 
"euphoria"  (vide  dictionary)  succeeded,  etc. 


HANGING  PARTICIPLES  265 

Sitting  on  the  verandah  after  dinner,  watching  the  sun 
sink  behind  the  hills,  there  came  a  sudden  break  in  the 
silence,  etc. 

Prepared,  on  the  other  hand,  to  take  obscurity  without 
resentment  or  envy,  because,  having  sought  first  a  certain 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  all  things  were  added. 

The  difficulty  can  in  most  cases  be  avoided  by 
changing  the  participial  clause  to  a  clause  with 
subject  and  predicate  as  in  the  revised  versions 
given  below;  but  the  last  example  is  a  sort  of 
Chinese  puzzle. 

[As  I  was]  talking  with  Senator ,  the  other  day, 

he  remarked,  etc. 

While  [I  was]  standing  still,  an  eagle,  etc. 

Though  [we  are]  entirely  confident  .  .  .  the  situa- 
tion, etc. 

While  [Moseley  was]  censured  for  his  various  acts  of 
inhumanity,  no  action  was  taken  against  him. 

But  [when  we  had]  taken  the  plunge,  the  cutaneous 
glow,  etc. 

[As  we  were]  sitting,  etc. 

In  "The  King's  English,"  such  ''unattached,  or 
wrongly  attached  participles,"  as  they  are  there 
called,  are  divided  into  eight  classes,  according  to 
the  "degree  of  heinousness"  of  the  offense! l 

1  Pages  110-116. 


266  DIVERS  MATTERS 

Nouns  Used  as  Verbs 

So  far  as  possible  we  avoid  in  the  "Atlantic" 
the  use  as  verbs  of  certain  words  that  are  pri- 
marily nouns,  when  the  meaning  can  be  as  well 
conveyed  by  other  distinctly  verbal  forms;  for 
example :  — 

Evidence,  for  prove,  show,  testify  to,  establish  by 
evidence,  witness,  etc. 

Glimpse,  for  espy,  catch  a  glimpse  of. 

Loan,  for  lend. 

Sense,  for  feel,  perceive,  etc. 

The  tendency  to  adopt  this  growing  habit  some- 
times results  in  a  manifest  misuse  of  the  word  in 
question. 

A  concrete  example  of  this  truth  has  been  evidenced 
here  in  our  little  town  this  past  month. 

The  author,  intending  to  say  that  "this  truth" 
has  been  "evidenced"  (testified  to,  established, 
supported)  by  an  example,  —  that  is,  that  an 
example  of  it  has  been  given,  —  actually  says 
something  very  different,  namely,  that  the  ex- 
ample itself  has  been  established. 

One  may  perhaps  express  a  pious  wish  that 
some  check  might  be  imposed  upon  the  journal- 
istic use  of  the  verb  stage,  and  that  it  might  be 
confined  to  its  proper  function  in  connection  with 
the  theatre.  Every  newspaper  reader  must  have 
noticed  the  frequency  with  which  the  word  is  now 


THE  SPLIT  INFINITIVE  267 

used  to  describe  every  sort  of  occurrence,  from 
a  street  row  to  a  wedding. 

The  Split  Infinitive 

Despite  the  arguments  of  those  who  claim  that 
"  to  "  is  no  part  of  the  infinitive,  and  that  there  is, 
therefore,  no  reason  why  other  words  should  not 
be  placed  between  "to"  and  the  verb-form  that 
accompanies  it,  the  curious  superstition  referred 
to  by  the  Messrs.  Fowler1  still  abides  in  the  Atlan- 
tic office,  and  the  "split  infinitive "  is  taboo  there, 
if  for  no  other  reason ,  because  it  is  "  an  ugly  thing, ' ' 
and  because,  while  there  may  be  degrees  in  its 
ugliness,  it  never  becomes  lovely.2  Although  those 
authors  seem  to  imply  that  journalists  are  inclined 
to  conscientiously  avoid  (as  the  splitters  would 
say)  this  particular  mode  of  expression,  experience 
leads  rather  to  the  opinion  that  they  run  a  close 
second  to  many  of  the  gentlemen  whose  speeches 
are  reported  in  the ' '  Congressional  Record,"  from 
which  is  taken  the  first  of  the  examples  following. 

Can  we  afford  to  thus  offend  our  second-best  world- 
customer?*  Can  we  afford  to  so  legislate  that  she 
[Canada]  can  justly  accuse  us  of  discriminating  against 
her  products  and  her  trade? 

1The  King's  English,  p.  319:  "...  The  curious  superstition 
that  the  splitting  or  not  splitting  makes  the  difference  between  a 
good  and  a  bad  writer." 

2  "  I  do  not  object  to  split  infinitives,"  says  a  recent  contributor 
to  the  Atlantic,  "  I  split  so  many  of  them  myself." 

3  "World-customer"  has  been  born,  we  think,  since  the  war. 


268  DIVERS  MATTERS 

The  next  are  typical  specimens  of  the  ugliness 
of  this  turn  of  expression. 

She  prayed  and  strove  that  she  might  give  him  of 
her  best,  to  practically  help  him. 

And  the  next  time  you  raise  your  gun  to  needlessly 
take  a  feathered  life. 

It  very  seldom  happens  that  any  more  consid- 
erable change  is  required  than  to  place  the  inter- 
vening word  or  words  before  "to"  or  after  the 
verb. 

Subjunctive  Forms 

In  the  matter  of  subjunctive,  or  conditional, 
forms,  the  "Atlantic"  confines  itself  to  the  en- 
deavor to  make  sure  that  they  are  used  correctly, 
if  an  author  desires  to  use  them.  It  does  not 
suggest  them  or  undertake  to  supply  them,  even 
when  they  would  be  strictly  correct,  except  in 
the  single  case  of  were,  generally  to  indicate  a 
condition  contrary  to  fact. 

If  it  were  pleasant  [meaning  that  it  is  not  pleasant], 
I  should  go. 

If  I  were  you  [but  I  am  not],  I  should  go  no  further 
with  it. 

It  may  be  that  it  is  correct  to  say:  "If  he  be 
the  man  you  say  he  is,  he  won't  do  it,"  to  ex- 
press one's  doubt  that  "he"  is  such  a  man;  but 
there  is  no  question  that  the  "prim  and  pomp- 


THE  INDEFINITE  ARTICLE  269 

ous  be"  is  rapidly  passing  out  of  use,  together 
with  all  similar  forms. 

The  Indefinite  Article,  before  "h"  and  "u" 
Before  words  beginning  with  h,  use  a  with  mono- 
syllables and  words  accented  on  the  first  syllable: 
a  hat,  a  habit,  a  hurricane.  In  such  cases  one  bears 
heavily  on  the  aspirate,  so  that  it  is  equivalent  to 
a  consonant.  Before  polysyllables  accented  else- 
where than  on  the  first  syllable,  use  an:  an  habitual 
criminal,  an  historical  novel,  an  heretical  opinion. 
In  such  words  the  h  is  naturally  so  slurred  in  pro- 
nunciation that  its  presence  is  scarcely  apparent, 
and  a  distinct  effort  is  required  to  pronounce  it 
distinctly,  as  one  must  if  a  is  used  before  it.  With 
those  words  beginning  with  hu  in  which  the  com- 
bination is  pronounced  almost  like  yu,  a  should 
always  be  used,  without  regard  to  the  accent :  a  hu- 
mane disposition,  a  humility  almost  like  fawning. 
Before  words  beginning  with  u  having  the  sound 
of  yu,  it  is  better  not  to  use  an,  as  is  sometimes 
done  —  for  no  conceivable  reason  except  to  impart 
an  air  of  false  "elegance."  Why  should  one  write 
"an  usual  occurrence,"  any  more  than  "an  young 
man,"  or  "an  year"? 

Adjectives  and  Adverbs  ending  in  "ly" 

I.  Adjectives  ending  in  ly  —  leisurely,  likely  — 
are  improperly  used  as  adverbs.    As  the  adverbial 


270  DIVERS  MATTERS 

forms — leisurelily,  likelily — are  quite  impossible,1 
some  other  word  should  be  substituted,  or,  if  ne- 
cessary, the  idea  should  be  expressed  by  a  phrase. 
"  Probably  "  differs  so  slightly,  if  at  all,  in  mean- 
ing from  "likely,"  that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  a 
case  in  which  it  might  not  be  substituted  for  it. 
As  in  — 

The  biologist  finds  another  evidence  of  man's  place 
in  nature  ...  in  the  conditions  of  the  physical  varia- 
tion among  different  human  races  —  or  species,  as  they 
would  likely  be  called  by  any  entirely  disinterested 
student  of  human  kind.  —  VERNON  KELLOGG. 

"He  strolled  along  leisurely"  is,  in  no  point  of 
view,  more  effective  than  "He  strolled  along  at  a 
leisurely  gait,"  or  "without  haste." 

2.  An  adverb  ending  in  ly  should  not  modify  an 
adjective  —  a  fortiori,  not  an  adverb  —  with  the 
same  termination.  The  objection  is,  of  course, 
purely  rhetorical. 

Indeed,  we  can  imagine  the  first  human  beings  pick- 
ing up  naturally  partly  flaked  flints,  etc.  [The  mean- 
ing is,  flints  partly  flaked  by  the  action  of  nature.] 

But  man's  social  inheritance  is  so  incomparably 
greater  and  more  important  in  determining  the  char- 
acter of  his  life,  that  he  is,  in  this  respect,  practically 
qualitatively  different  from  all  other  animals. 

1This  sentence  was  in  type  before  the  writer  fell  in  with  the 
expression,  in  an  Atlantic  MS.,  "their  teeth  grinned  ghasttily"! 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  271 

Special  Words  and  Phrases 

ANY 

An  exceedingly  common,  but  none  the  less  er- 
roneous, use  of  any  is  typified  in  this  sentence 
from  Lord  Morley's  "Recollections":  — 

The  constituency  was  the  largest,  I  think,  of  any 
borough  in  the  kingdom  at  that  time. 

This  might  have  been  made  to  read  quite  as 
smoothly,  and  more  grammatically :  — 

The  constituency  was  the  largest  of  all  the  boroughs, 
etc.,  or 

The  constituency  was  larger  than  any  other  borough, 
etc. 

Disraeli  said  that  he  had  the  largest  parliamentary 
knowledge  of  any  [a  larger  .  .  .  than  any  other]  man 
he  had  met. 

They  make  the  best  impression  of  any  [a  better  im- 
pression than  any  other]  audience  of  that  sort  that  I 
have  seen  except  the  Brooklyn  one. 

As  and  THAN 

As  and  than  are  properly  conjunctions,  not  pre- 
positions. If  this  is  borne  in  mind,  it  will  generally 
be  a  simple  matter  to  determine  the  proper  case  of 
the  following  noun. 

I  love  you  better  than  him. 

Than  being  a  conjunction,  this  can  have  no 
other  meaning  than  "I  love  you  better  than  [I 


272  DIVERS  MATTERS 

love]  him."  If  than  were  a  preposition,  the  sen- 
tence might  mean  either  that,  or  "  I  love  you  bet- 
ter than  he  loves  you." 

I  can't  understand  why  it  is  n't  just  as  necessary 
that  you  should  speak  to  him  as  her. 

The  author  of  this  sentence  meant  that  it  was 
just  as  necessary  that  the  person  addressed  should 
speak  to  "  him"  as  that  the  one  spoken  of  as  "her" 
should;  but,  by  treating  as  as  a  preposition,  he 
made  himself  say:  "I  can't  understand  why  it  is 
n't  just  as  necessary  that  you  should  speak  to  him 
as  it  is  that  you  should  speak  to  her." 

"It  must  further  be  noticed  that  both  as  and 
than  are  conjunctions  of  the  sort  that  can  either, 
like  and,  etc.,  merely  join  coordinates,  or  like 
when,  etc.,  attach  a  subordinate  clause  to  what  it 
depends  on.  This  double  power  sometimes  affects 
the  case."1 

As  to  the  illustrative  example,  from  Professor 
Huxley,  —  "It  is  to  him  and  such  men  as  he  that 
we  owe  the  change,"  —  these  authors  say:  "This 
example  is  defensible,  as  being  here  a  subordina- 
ting conjunction,  and  as  he  being  equivalent  to 
as  he  is.  But  it  is  distinctly  felt  to  need  defence, 
which  as  him  would  not;  as  would  be  a  coordi- 
nating conjunction,  and  simply  join  the  pronoun 
him  to  the  noun  'men." 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  63. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  273 

A  sis  sometimes  used  as  a  sort  of  pseudo-relative 
pronoun.  The  most  familiar  example  is  in  the  for- 
mula frequently  employed  by  presiding  officers  in 
putting  a  question !  ' '  A  s  many  as  are  in  favor  will 
say  aye."  Although  the  formula  may  be  sanctified 
by  usage,  certainly  it  is  not  correct  English.  More 
careful  officers  will  generally  say:  "All  those  who 
are  in  favor,"  etc.  And  curiously  enough,  when 
the  negative  is  called  for,  it  is  almost  always  done 
in  this  form:  "All  those  opposed  will  say  nay." 

As  THOUGH  for  As  IF 

This  common  error  is  quite  without  justification 
unless  it  can  be  justified  by  its  very  frequent  use, 
even  by  writers  who  certainly  know  better.  There 
is  always  an  ellipsis  when  the  phrase  is  used,  and 
if  we  supply  the  necessary  words  to  complete  the 
thought,  the  solecism  is  manifest  at  once. 

It  seemed  to  him  .  .  .  as  though,  through  all  that 
eternity  of  waiting,  he  knew  what  the  answer  would  be. 

Written  in  full,  this  would  be:  — 

It  seemed  to  him  ...  as  it  would  have  seemed, 
though,  etc. 

which,  of  course,  does  not  make  sense. 

Captain  Hastings  thought  he  looked  as  though  he 
would  be  less  perturbed,  but  did  not  say  so. 

The  necessary  change  to  express  the  whole 
thought :  — 

19 


274  DIVERS  MATTERS 

Captain  Hastings  thought  that  he  [the  other  man] 
looked  as  he  would  look  if  he  were  the  sort  of  man  who 
would  be  less  perturbed  under  similar  circumstances. 

The  writer  has  been  unable  to  find  any  instance 
in  which  the  amplification  of  the  thought  does  not 
make  the  use  of  though,  instead  of  if,  impossible. 

With  respect  to  as  if,  the  authors  of  "The 
King's  English,"  (pages  156,  157)  call  attention  to 
the  danger  of  following  with  the  wrong  tense,  if 
the  fact  that  there  is  an  ellipsis  is  forgotten.  One 
should  always  use  the  tense  that  would  be  re- 
quired if  the  ellipsis  were  supplied. 

We  will  not  appear  like  fools  in  this  matter,  as  if  we 
have  no  authority  over  our  own  daughter. 

Meaning:  ''as  we  should  appear  if  we  had  no 
authority,"  etc. 

As  if  the  fruit  or  the  flower  not  only  depends  on  a 
root,  .  .  .  but  is  itself  actually  the  root. 

Meaning:  "As  would  be  the  case  if  the  flower 
not  only  depended  on  the  root  .  .  .  but  was  it- 
self actually  the  root." 

It  hardly  looks  as  if  the  negro  gets  the  worst  of  it. 

Meaning:  It  hardly  looks  as  it  would  look  if  the 
negro  got  the  worst  of  it. 

BESIDE  —  BESIDES 

These  words  are  often  used  almost  interchange- 
ably, although  the  distinction  in  meaning  is  clear 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  275 

enough.  Beside  means  "by  the  side  of";  besides, 
"in  addition  to."  The  proper  form  is  chosen  in 
each  of  these  examples. 

Beside  the  arguments  that  you  bring  forward  I  set 
this  one,  which  is  stronger  than  all  the  rest. 

Besides  these  arguments,  he  might  well  have  put  for- 
ward this  other,  more  convincing  one. 

He  sat  beside  me. 

There  were  just  ten  men  in  the  hall,  and  perhaps 
twenty-five  women  besides  myself. 

Both  are  prepositions,  although  besides  is  some- 
times used  alone,  as  if  adverbially,  in  the  sense  of 
"moreover."  In  such  cases,  however,  "that,"  or 
"  this,"  or  some  other  word,  or,  perhaps,  a  phrase, 
is  understood. 

A  man  of  so  little  force  could  never  have  gone  ahead 
so  far  without  "a  pull " ;  besides,  he  is  generally  reputed 
to  be  far  from  scrupulous. 

DIFFERENT  FROM  or  DIFFERENT  To 

There  is  authority  for  the  use  of  both  from  and 
to  with  different,  differently,  difference.  It  is  largely 
a  question  of  taste  (although  to  is  found  much 
more  frequently  in  the  works  of  British  writers), 
and  the  taste  of  the  "Atlantic"  is  iorfrom  rather 
than  to.  Different  than,  which  one  sometimes  finds, 
cannot  justify  itself  on  the  ground  of  good  usage.1 

1  See  The  King's  English,  pp.  161  ff.,  for  a  discussion  of  the 
proper  use  of  these  and  other  prepositions. 


276  DIVERS  MATTERS 

DIRECTLY  for  As  SOON  As 

This  distinctively  British  use  of  directly  as  a 
conjunction,  which  is  occasionally  encountered  in 
"Atlantic"  MSS.,  is  explained  in  the  New  Eng- 
lish Dictionary  as  "Elliptical  for  directly  that,  as, 
or  when."  It  is  there  characterized  as  colloquial, 
although  the  modern  examples  of  it  are  taken 
from  the  works  of  Cardinal  Newman  and  from 
Buckle's  "History  of  Civilization." 

But  it  admits  of  criticism,  and  will  become  suspected 
directly  it  is  accused. 

The  celebrated  work  of  De  Lolme  on  the  English 
constitution  was  suppressed  .  .  .  directly  it  appeared. 

Do 
(As  a  substitute  for  another  verb,  to  avoid  awkward  repetition) 

It  cannot  properly  be  used  as  a  substitute  for 
be.  Instances  of  this  error  are  rare,  and  are  so 
manifest  as  hardly  to  need  pointing  out. 

It  ...  ought  to  have  been  satisfying  to  the  young 
man.  And  so,  in  a  manner  of  speaking,  it  did  [was]. 

The  author  acted  on  the  theory  that  he  had 
written:  "It  ought  to  have  satisfied  the  young 
man";  when  did  [did  satisfy]  would  have  been 
right. 

In  respect  to  other  verbs  than  be,  the  substitu- 
tion of  some  form  of  do,  to  avoid  repetition,  may 
properly  be  made  only  when  the  construction  is 
not  changed,  as  from  the  active  to  the  passive 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  277 

voice,  or  vice  versa,  or  from  a  compound  to  a  sim- 
ple verb. 

But  has  the  man  whose  working  hours  are  so  full  of 
responsibilities  changed  as  much  as  he  seems  to  have 
done ? l 

I  chose  my  wife,  as  she  did  her  wedding  gown. 

In  these  two  the  substitution  is  proper,  but  not 
in  those  that  follow. 

The  inference  cannot  properly  be  drawn,  as  Mr. 
Smith  does  [as  Mr.  Smith  draws  it]. 

It  is  very  questionable  whether  it  is  wise  for  this 
country  to  enter  upon  an  undertaking  which  they  are  2 
likely  to  have  every  reason  to  regret  doing  [entering 
upon]. 

DOUBT 

If,  upon  hearing  a  statement,  one  says,  tout 
court,  "I  doubt  it,"  disbelief,  rather  than  uncer- 
tainty, is  implied.  But  there  is  a  rather  sharp  dis- 
tinction between  "  I  doubt  that  it  is  so,"  and  "  I 

1  It  may  seem  that  this  matter  of  the  use  of  do  is  no  more  within 
the  limited  scope  of  this  work  than  a  good  many  others  of  equal 
or  greater  importance,  to  which  no  reference  is  made.  But  it  hap- 
pens that  the  question  was  imported  into  the  subject  of  Atlantic 
usage  in  connection  with  the  sentence  to  which  this  note  is  affixed. 
It  is  taken  from  a  paper  by  Dr.  S.  M.  Crothers;  and  his  use  of  done 
was  criticized  by  a  correspondent,  who  "wanted  to  know" 
whether  the  sentence  should  be  "completed"  by  the  addition  of 
"changed,"  so  that  it  would  read  "as  much  as  he  seems  to  have 
done  changed."  The  curious  reader  can  find  the  correspondent's 
letter  and  the  reply  of  the  editor  of  the  Atlantic  in  the  Contribu- 
tors' Column  of  the  issue  of  December,  1917  (unbound  copies). 

8  Query:  it  is?  See  under  "  Number,"  p.  244. 


278  DIVERS  MATTERS 

doubt  whether  it  is  so,  or  not."  The  first,  again,  is 
rather  likely  to  mean  "  I  believe  that  it  is  not  so  " ; 
the  other,  to  indicate  real  uncertainty. 

The  authors  of  "The  King's  English"  seem  to 
the  writer  to  treat  this  subject  less  adequately 
than  they  treat  most  of  those  that  they  discuss. 
They  say:  "If  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the 
writer  considers  the  doubt  an  unreasonable  one, 
the  word  is  always  'whether,'  which  reminds  us 
that  there  is  a  suppressed  alternative :  — 

"'I  doubt  whether  this  is  true  (or  not).' 

"  If  it  is  evident  that  the  writer  disapproves  of 
the  doubt,  the  words  introducing  it  amount  to  an 
affirmation  on  his  part  that  the  thing  doubted  is 
undoubtedly  true;  the  alternative  is  no  longer 
offered ;  '  that '  is  therefore  the  word :  — 

" '  I  do  not  doubt  (i.e.,  I  am  sure  that).' 
"'Who  can  doubt  that  .  .  .  P'"1 

This  is  all  right  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  it  suggests 
that  that  is  never  the  right  word  to  use  except  when 
the  doubt  is  introduced  by  words  amounting  to  an 
affirmation  that  the  thing  doubted  is  undoubtedly 
true.  On  the  contrary,  there  are  many  cases  where 
that  is  properly  used,  without  such  introductory 
words,  to  indicate  almost  the  exact  opposite.  The 
following  passage,  cited  by  them  as  an  example 
of  the  improper  substitution  of  that  for  whether, 
well  illustrates  the  point :  — 

1  Pages  159,  160. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  279 

I  am  afraid  that  you  will  become  so  afraid  of  men's 
motives  as  to  doubt  that  any  man  can  be  honest.  — 
TROLLOPE. 

That  is  to  say,  to  believe  that  no  man  can  be 
honest. 

I  do  not  think  it  would  have  pleased  Mr.  Thackeray ; 
and  to  doubt  that  he  would  have  wished  to  see  it  car- 
ried out  determines  my  view  of  the  matter. 

Here,  the  first  clause,  "  I  do  not  think,"  makes  it 
certain  that ' '  to  doubt  that  he  would  have  wished ' ' 
means ' '  to  believe  that  he  would  not  have  wished." 

The  not  uncommon  phrase,  "  I  do  not  doubt  but 
what,"  is  a  pure  vulgarism  for  "I  do  not  doubt 
that:' 

DUE  To 

Often  improperly  used  instead  of  "  because  of," 
or  "on  account  of,"  or  some  similar  phrase. 

.  .  .  because,  although,  as  we  have  seen,  there  is 
plenty  of  cotton  in  European  ports,  Czecho-Slovakia, 
due  to  [on  account  of]  the  depreciation  of  her  currency, 
has  no  way  of  paying  for  it. 

Due  to  [because  of]  the  new  walks  and  changes  in  the 
Common,  Hughy  McGrath,  who  has  charge  of  the 
games,  etc.  —  Newspaper. 

Our  currency  was  increased,  our  gold  supply  dou- 
bled, due  to  the  needs  of  the  Allies,  who  were  obliged  to 
exchange  their  gold  for  our  supplies.  —  Congressional 
Record. 

The  only  possible  grammatical  construction  of 
these  sentences  makes  "  due  "  (an  adjective)  agree 


28o  DIVERS  MATTERS 

with    "Czechoslovakia,"    "Hughy    McGrath," 
and  "currency,"  which  is  clearly  impossible. 

True,  there  are  many  Arabs  living  there,  more,  for 
example,  than  Greeks,  Germans,  or  Latins,  due  to  the 
proximity  of  Arabia. 

The  phrase  is  more  defensible  in  this  last  exam- 
ple, because  it  is  the  whole  of  what  goes  before  it 
that  is  due  to  the  proximity  of  Arabia ;  but  if  it  is 
to  be  retained,  it  is  much  better  to  make  the  sen- 
tence read:  ".  .  .  than  Greeks  .  .  .  this  condi- 
tion being  due  to,"  etc. 

A  curious  misuse  of  due  is  found  in  the  following 
communication  to  the  editor  of  the  "Atlantic." 
The  meaning  seems  to  be  that  "this  usually  con- 
servative magazine"  ought  to  make  an  investiga- 
tion, and  the  rest.  It  will  be  observed  that  the 
writer  was  not  particular  about  placing  his  cor- 
relatives, "not  only  .  .  .  but." 

It  is  due  for  this  usually  conservative  magazine  to  in- 
vestigate the  facts  and  make  an  abject  apology  to  not 
only  the  citizens  of  this  peaceful  little  city,  but  to,  etc. 

FARTHER  —  FURTHER 

These  forms  are  used  almost  interchangeably, 
both  as  adjectives  and  as  adverbs,  by  many  writ- 
ers. It  is  believed  to  be  the  better  practice  to  use 
the  first  in  referring  to  actual  physical  conditions ; 
the  other  in  figurative  language. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  281 

The  path  led  on  and  on  into  the  farther  recesses  of  the 
forest. 

He  strayed  farther  than  he  intended. 

As  he  continued  his  address,  he  found  himself  in- 
volved in  further  intricacies. 

The  general  not  only  hinted  at  his  plan  of  operations, 
but  went  further  and  told  just  what  units  he  expected 
to  use  at  each  stage. 

Speaking  generally,  English  writers  are  more  in- 
clined to  use  further  almost  exclusively,  and  that 
practice  was  followed  by  the  late  Henry  James. 
But  an  eminent  American  novelist,  who  made 
use  of  the  phrase  "farther  opportunities,"  replied 
somewhat  testily  to  the  proof-reader  who  sug- 
gested the  substitution  of  ''further,"  "Further 
is  a  verb ;  farther  is  the  comparative  of  far."  This 
implied  that  the  intention  was  to  use  the  compara- 
tive of  "far  opportunities"  —  a  manifest  absurd- 
ity. The  fact  is,  of  course,  that,  in  such  cases, 
farther,  or  further,  means  simply  more,  or  additional, 
when  used  as  an  adjective,  the  adjective/ar  being 
seldom  if  ever  used  except  in  reference  to  actual 
physical  distance.  As  an  adverb,  far  is  frequently 
used  in  a  figurative  sense,  and  the  choice  of.  further 
as  its  comparative  in  that  sense  is  made  in  order 
to  carry  out  as  far  as  possible  the  purpose  to  give 
to  each  word  a  distinctive  meaning.  There  is  no 
lack  of  authority  for  either  word,  although  the 


282  DIVERS  MATTERS 

New  English  Dictionary  inclines  toward  the  dis- 
tinction that  we  make. 

LAY  and  LIE 

The  frequent  misuse  of  these  words  for  one 
another  had  been  purposely  omitted  from  con- 
sideration here,  as  one  of  the  numerous  cases  of 
bad  English,  pure  and  simple,  with  which  the 
"Atlantic"  has  not  previously  had  to  reckon. 
But  the  following  sentence  in  a  very  recent  issue 
of  the  magazine,  having  passed  all  hands  without 
detection,  has  been  good-naturedly,  if  somewhat 
satirically,  called  to  our  attention  by  more  than 
one  watchful  correspondent. 

Whatever  she  wore  refused  to  fit,  seeming  to  lay 
snugly  on  her  round  back,  etc. 

The  confusion  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  fact  that 
lie  becomes  lay  in  the  past  tense.  But  as  we  are 
estopped  by  this  offense  from  saying  that  every- 
body should  be  familiar  with  the  distinction,  we 
observe  that  lie,  which  is  always  intransitive, 
and  lay,  which  is  always  transitive,  are  conjugated 
respectively,  thus :  — 

Present  Indicative         Past  Indicative  Past  Participle 

I  lie  down  I  lay  down  I  have  lain  down 

I  lay  it  down          I  laid  it  down       I  have  laid  it  down 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND   PHRASES  283 

LIKE  for  As 

It  was  in  me  just  like  [as]  life  was  in  me;  that  life  of 
which  a  popular  saying  affirms  that  "life  is  sweet." 

Agriculture  and  cotton  .  .  .  are  not  organized,  and 
have  no  reserve  capital,  like  [as]  our  corporate  inter- 
ests in  this  country  have. 

This  is  always  a  vulgarism,  and  is  admissible 
only  in  conversation,  when  the  interlocutors  are 
represented  as  speaking  as  they  are  likely  to 
speak,  not  as  they  should  speak.  It  is,  unhappily, 
found  on  many  a  page  of  the  "Congressional  Rec- 
ord." This  excerpt  from  a  very  recent  issue  of 
that  reservoir  of  eloquence  furnishes  also  a  flagrant 
example  of  the  misplacement  of  not  only.1 

Some  one  sent  me  some  photographs  of  these  mass 
meetings  which  were  being  held  in  Japan,  and  it  looked 
to  me  not  only  like  thousands  but  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  people  were  in  attendance  upon  them. 

MEANWHILE  —  MEANTIME 

These  words  standing  by  themselves,  generally 
at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence,  are  used  almost 
interchangeably  —  often  by  the  same  writer,  in 
exactly  the  same  sense,  on  successive  pages.  It  is 
customary  in  the  "Atlantic"  to  give  the  prefer- 
ence to  meanwhile,  reserving  the  other  for  the 
phrase  "in  the  meantime.'1 

1  See  under  "Correlatives,"  pp.  236  Jf. 


284  DIVERS  MATTERS 

O  — OH 

0  is  properly  used,  except  in  poetry,  only  with 
the  vocative  case,  especially  in  appeals  and  invo- 
cations. It  should  always  be  capitalized,  and 
should  not  be  followed  by  a  comma. 

Oh  is  used  only  as  an  exclamation ;  it  should  be 
capitalized  only  at  the  beginning  of  a  sentence, 
and,  in  the  absence  of  an  exclamation  mark,  should 
always  be  followed  by  a  comma.1 

OFF  =  FROM 

This  error,  or  vulgarism,  occurs  oftenest  in  con- 
nection with  "borrow,"  or  some  similar  verb.  It 
is  common  enough  in  colloquial  conversation, 
when  it  frequently  takes  the  more  objectionable 
form,  off  of ,  —  "  Can  I  get  a  piece  of  tobacco  off  of 
you?"  —  but  it  is  offensive  in  narration. 

But  he  [Mr.  Chesterton]  would  not  walk  round  St. 
James's  Square.  He  would,  in  Johnson's  circum- 
stances, ride  round  and  round  in  a  cab  —  even  if  he  had 
to  borrow  the  fare  off  the  cabman. 

ON  and  UPON 

It  is  difficult  to  formulate  a  rule  for  the  use  of 
one  or  the  other  of  these  words.  It  may,  perhaps, 
be  said  that  the  shorter  form  is  preferable,  gener- 
ally speaking,  in  connection  with  actual  physical 
position  or  motion  or  direction,  especially  when 

1  For  the  position  of  the  exclamation  mark,  see  p.  146  supra. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  285 

such  motion  or  direction  is  downward.  We  not  in- 
frequently meet  with  such  expressions  as  "He 
threw  it  down  upon  the  ground,"  or  "  He  lay  down 
upon  the  floor,"  in  which  the  only  conceivable  mo- 
tive for  the  use  of  upon  is  that  it  is  more  "elegant " 
than  on.  Again,  where  the  motion  or  direction  in- 
dicated is  upward,  if  it  is  necessary  to  describe 
it  in  terms,  it  is  generally  better  to  employ  "up" 
as  an  adverb  in  connection  with  the  preposition 
"on."  "He  climbed  up  on  (or  to)  the  platform," 
rather  than,  "He  climbed  upon  the  platform."1 

In  other  than  physical  connotations  the  use  of 
upon  is  too  firmly  established  to  be  shaken,  even 
if  it  were  objectionable.  But  in  the  writer's  opin- 
ion, it  is  an  eminently  proper  and  desirable  dis- 
tinction to  make  in  the  use  of  the  word,  as  it  is  al- 
ways advisable,  if  possible,  to  give  to  every  word 
a  distinctive  meaning.  It  is  possible  to  specify 
only  a  very  few  of  the  cases  in  this  category  in 
which  upon  is  used.2 

That  depends  upon  circumstances. 

In  his  argument  he  dwelt  insistently  upon  the  para- 
mount importance  of  the  adhesion  of  America  to  the 
League. 

Upon  these  facts  and  figures  I  base  my  assertion 
that,  etc. 

1  The  verbs  "mount"  and  "ascend"  are  properly  used  transi- 
tively, and  not,  as  frequently  occurs,  with  either  on  or  upon.  "  He 
mounted  the  rostrum,"  not  "He  mounted  upon  the  rostrum." 

2  It  is  not  intended  to  imply  that  on  might  not  properly  be  used 
in  most,  if  not  all,  of  these  instances. 


286  DIVERS  MATTERS 

In  this  non-physical  sense,  upon  may  properly 
be  used  in  connection  with  "down,"  as  the  idea 
of  upward  direction  in  upon  is  lost  sight  of. 

It  is  wrong  to  use  both  on  and  upon  in  different 
branches  of  the  same  sentence,  in  precisely  the 
same  connection,  as  in  the  two  following  quota- 
tions :  — 

An  awkward,  shy,  loose-jointed  frontiersman,  whose 
shabby  and  ill-fitting  uniform  hung  upon  him  as  on  a 
clothes-horse. 

That  class  of  events  properly  called  miraculous, 
whose  existence  depends,  not  only  on  their  absurdity, 
but  upon  their  impossibility. 

The  compound  preposition  onto  (although  anal- 
ogous to  into}  is  generally  regarded  as  a  collo- 
quialism, and  should  be  printed  as  two  words. 

ONE  (IMPERSONAL) 

The  possessive  of  one  is  "one's,"  not  "his,"  or 
"their";  and  one  should  be  repeated  rather  than 
be  replaced  by  "you"  or  any  pronoun.  "Those 
who  doubt  their  ability  to  handle  it  skillfully 
under  these  restrictions  should  only  use  it  where 
no  repetition  or  substitute  is  needed."  l 

That  inequality  and  incongruousness  in  his  writing 
which  makes  one  revise  his  [one's]  judgment  at  every 
page. 

He  is  a  man  who  speaks  with  Bismarckian  frankness, 
and  who  directly  impresses  one  with  the  impression 

1  The  King's  English,  p.  328.  The  examples  given  in  that  work 
seem  to  show  that  Lowell  was  a  confirmed  offender  in  this  regard. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  287 

that  you  are  [one  is]  speaking  to  a  man  and  not  to  an 
incarnate  bluebook. 

But  he  never  allowed  one  to  feel  their  [one's]  own 
deficiencies,  for  he  never  appeared  to  be  aware  of  them 
himself. 

ONLY 

Only  is  very  frequently  misplaced,  even  in  the 
work,  otherwise  unexceptionable,  of  the  most  es- 
teemed writers,  whom  it  seems  over-bold  to  crit- 
icize. But  the  rule  that  only  should  stand  next  to 
the  word  or  phrase  to  which  it  applies  is  too  clear, 
it  would  seem,  to  need  exemplification.  In  all  the 
examples  the  rule  is  violated. 

The  peasants  only  deliver  raw  materials  under  com- 
pulsion. 

The  meaning  is,  of  course,  that  they  do  not  de- 
liver raw  materials  unless  they  are  compelled  to, 
not  that  the  only  thing  they  do  under  compulsion 
is  deliver  raw  materials;  so  that  only  should  be 
placed  before  "under." 

All  the  books  and  reading  in  the  world  are  only  val- 
uable [valuable  only]  as  they  are  helps.  —  ARNOLD. 

There  can  be  no  compromise  between  this  attitude 
and  that  of  Henry  James,  for  whom  art  was  strictly 
an  affair  of  giving  form  and  significance  to  life;  with 
ultimate  results,  no  doubt,  which  go  beyond  the  aes- 
thetic, but  which  are  only  to  be  attained  [attained  only] 
through  this  medium  by  not  being  directly  sought. 


288  DIVERS  MATTERS 

That  is  to  say,  the  only  way  to  attain  these  re- 
sults through  this  medium  is  by  not  seeking  them 
directly;  therefore  only  should  stand  after  "me- 
dium" and  before  "by." 

For,  instead  of  being  properly  mixed,  they  [the 
Americans]  are  divided  into  ethnographic  strata,  which 
only  touch  at  the  edges. 

As  it  stands,  this  would  mean,  grammatically, 
that  these  strata  touch  at  the  edges,  but  do  not 
run  into  each  other,  or  coalesce,  there ;  but,  as  the 
meaning  is,  presumably,  that  they  touch  at  the 
edges  and  nowhere  else,  only  should  stand  imme- 
diately before  "at  the  edges." 

For  there  are  some  familiar  axioms  which  the  indi- 
vidual only  seems  to  be  able  to  learn  the  meaning  of 
through  his  individual  experience. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  individual  only 
seems,  but  really  is  not  able,  etc.,  but  that  he 
seems  not  to  be  able  to  learn  the  meaning  of  these 
axioms  unless  he  has  individual  experience  of 
their  truth ;  therefore  only  should  stand  between 
"of"  and  "through." 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  "alone,"  "simply," 
"merely,"  "solely,"  and  perhaps  other  words, 
used  in  the  sense  of  "only." 

The  pernicious  sway  of  Capitalism  is  solely  due  [due 
solely]  to  the  fact  that  humanity  is  divided  up  into 
nations. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND  PHRASES  289 

The  abundant  exemplification  of  this  point  is 
due  to  two  facts :  that  the  error  is  a  very  common 
one,  and  that  authors  not  infrequently,  in  reading 
their  proofs  and  observing  that  the  position  of 
only  has  been  changed,  indicate  a  desire  to  have  it 
restored  to  its  original  position. 

SHALL  and  WILL 
SHOULD  and  WOULD 

The  intricacy  and  difficulty  of  the  various  ques- 
tions concerning  the  proper  employment  of  these 
words  may  be  gauged  by  the  fact  that  "The 
King's  English"  devotes  no  less  than  twenty-four 
pages  to  a  comprehensive  discussion  of  the  sub- 
ject. But  the  discussion  is  not  comprehensive 
only  —  it  is  exceedingly  obscure  and  involved ; 
and  in  the  present  attempt  to  throw  some  light 
into  the  darkness,  little  assistance  has  been  derived 
from  it. 

The  following  historical  remarks,  however,  are 
interesting:  "  In  Old  English  there  was  no  separate 
future;  present  and  future  were  one.  Shall  and 
will  were  the  presents  of  two  verbs,  to  which  be- 
long also  the  past  should  and  would,  the  condi- 
tionals should  and  would,  and  the  past  condition- 
als should  have  and  would  have.  Shall  had  the 
meaning  of  command  or  obligation,  and  will  of 
wish.  But  as  commands  and  wishes  are  concerned 
mainly  with  the  future,  it  was  natural  that  a 
20 


290  DIVERS  MATTERS 

future  auxiliary  tense  should  be  evolved  out  of 
these  two  verbs."1 

1.  To  denote  "simple  futurity,"  —  an  unsatis- 
factory phrase,  but  one  commonly  employed,  for 
which  no  comprehensive  substitute  suggests  it- 
self, —  shall  and  should  are  used  in  the  first  person, 
will  and  would  in  the  second  and  third  persons. 

I  (we)  shall  go. 

You  will  go. 

He  (they)  will  go. 

I  (we)  should  go,  if  ... 

You  would  go,  if  ... 

He  (they)  would  go,  if  ... 

The  conditional  forms  usually  carry  a  sugges- 
tion that  the  condition  is  (or  will  be)  unfulfilled. 

2.  To  denote  a  wish,  purpose,  command,  prom- 
ise, threat,  or  the  like,  will  and  would  are  used  in 
the  first  person,  shall  and  should  in  the  second  and 
third. 

I  will  go  (it  is  my  determination  or  intention  to  go). 

You  shall  go  (I  am  willing  that  you  should  go,  I  prom- 
ise you  that  you  may  go,  I  order  you  to  go). 

He  shall  go  (with  similar  meanings). 

I  would  go  (I  should  be  willing,  or  should  desire,  to 
go),  if  ... 

You  should  go  (I  should  be  willing  that  you  should 
go,  I  should  insist  upon  your  going),  if  ... 

They  should  not  go  (I  should  forbid  them  to  go,  I 
should  prevent  their  going),  if  ... 

i  The  King's  English,  p.  134. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND   PHRASES  291 

Exceptions  to  the  use  of  shall,  in  the  second  and 
third  persons,  to  express  a  definite  command  from 
one  who  is  entitled  to  command,  are  found  in  the 
more  emphatic  forms :  — 

You  will  go  to  your  room  at  once. 
Mr.  Jones  will  report  to  his  commanding  officer  to- 
morrow morning.1 

3.  In  asking  questions  with  the  first  person  for 
subject,  shall  should  always  be  used,  whatever  the 
implication  of  the  question. 

Shall  I  have  another  chance?     (Mere  futurity.) 

Shall  I  go,  or  shall  I  not?  (Uncertainty,  or  a  request 
for  advice.) 

Shall  I  be  here  at  this  time  next  year?  (Uncer- 
tainty.) 

What  train  shall  I  take?     (Asking  for  instructions.) 

In  asking  questions  with  the  subject  in  the 
second  or  third  person,  the  rule  is  often  stated  to 
be  that  one  should  use  shall  or  will  according  to 
the  answer  "expected."  It  would  be  more  accu- 
rate to  say,  according  to  the  form  of  the  answer 
sought.  For  example,  if  we  wish  to  know  whether 
the  person  we  are  addressing  intends  to  go  some- 
where or  do  something,  we  say:  "Shall  you  go?" 
or  "  Shall  you  do  this  or  that?  "  That  is  to  say,  we 
request  him  to  answer,  "  I  shall,"  or  "  I  shall  not." 
On  the  other  hand,  if  we  wish  to  know  whether  he 

i  See  The  King's  English,  pp.  138,  139. 


292  DIVERS  MATTERS 

is  willing,  we  say,  "  Will  you  go?  "or  "  Will  you  do 
this  or  that?"  requesting  him  to  answer,  "  I  will" 
or,  "I  will  not." 

In  asking  questions  with  should  or  would,  the 
rule  that  the  choice  should  depend  upon  the  an- 
swer sought  applies  with  all  three  persons,  subject 
to  the  reservation  that  one  is  hardly  likely  to  ask, 
except  possibly  in  soliloquy,  what  one  would  be 
willing  or  likely  to  do  under  certain  circumstances. 
For  instance,  one  might  well  say:  "Should  I  go  if 
my  father  gets  better?"  —  that  is,  "Ought  I  to 
go?"  or  "Do  you  advise  me  to  go?"  But  one 
would  hardly  ask  a  third  person:  "Would  I  go, 
etc.?"  —  that  is,  "Should  I  be  willing  (or  likely) 
to  go?" 

4.  In  indirect  discourse,   the  choice  between 
shall  and  will,  should  and  would,  can  almost  al- 
ways be  determined  by  turning  the  sentence  into 
direct  discourse. 

He  told  me  that  he  should  (would)  wait  another 
week. 

Did  he  say:  "I  shall  wait,"  that  is,  "I  propose 
to  wait,"  or  "  I  will  wait,"  that  is,  "  I  am  willing  to 
wait?" 

If  the  first,  should  is  the  proper  form;  if  the 
second,  would. 

5.  Should  alone,  of  the  four  forms  we  are  con- 
sidering, is  used  in  the  sense  of  "ought"  —  or, 
more  accurately,  "ought  to."   This  ultra-familiar 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND   PHRASES  293 

use  of  the  word  hardly  calls  for  exemplification. 

6.  Would  is  improperly  used  with  " be  willing" 
or  "like."  One  ought  always  to  say:  "I  should  be 
willing,"  "  I  should  like." 

"There  has  lately  been  an  influenza  of  would  in 
the  wrong  place,  afflicting  this  land,"  wrote  the 
late  Professor  F.  J.  Child.  "  People  are  saying  to 
an  alarming  extent:  I  would  like,  would  you  like, 
instead  of  I  should  like,  should  you  like." 

Would  itself  connotes  wish  or  volition ;  so  that 
"  I  would  like,"  means  "  I  should  like  to  like,"  etc. 

6.  Two  idiomatic  uses  of  would  are  — 

(a)  To  denote  a  custom  or  habit. 

He  would  sit  and  brood  over  his  grievance  for  hours 
at  a  time. 

Well  I  wot 

With  her  needles  would  she  sit, 
And  for  hours  she  would  knit  — 

Would  she  not? 

(b)  To  express  a  fervent  wish. 

Would  that  I  were  young  again! 
Would  God  that  it  might  be  so! 

This  whole  problem  is  vastly  simplified  by  the 
answer  given  by  one  of  the  students  in  a  prepara- 
tory school,  "who  will  be  in  college  next  year,"  to 
the  question:  "  Explain  the  use  of  shall  and  will.'1 
—  "Shall  is  used  by  polite  people,  will  by  all 
others"! 


294  DIVERS  MATTERS 

TRANSPIRE 

This  word  is  frequently  used  (especially  in 
journalese)  but  always  incorrectly,  in  the  sense  of 
' '  to  happen. ' '  Aside  from  its  meaning  as  a  medical 
term  (synonymous  with  perspire),  it  has  no  other 
legitimate  sense  than  "to  become  known  "  ("come 
out").  "As  a  synonym  for  become  known"  say 
Messrs.  Fowler,  "transpire  is  journalistic  and 
ugly,  but  may  pass ;  as  a  synonym  for  happen,  it  is 
a  bad  blunder,  but  not  uncommon.  .  .  .  Even  in 
the  legitimate  sense,  originally  a  happy  metaphor 
for  leaking  out,  but  now  vulgarized  and  'dead.' " 

"The  only  quarrel  I  have  with  you,"  —  so  J.  R. 
Lowell  wrote  to  Aldrich,  apropos  of  "The  Story 
of  a  Bad  Boy,"  —  "is  that  I  found  in  it  that  in- 
famous word  'transpired.'  E  pluribus  unum  it! 
.  .  .  You  are  on  the  very  brink  of  the  pit." 

That  repository  of  "elegant"  but  incorrect 
English,  the  "Congressional  Record,"  reports  a 
legislator  as  saying,  in  a  speech  on  a  resolution 
relating  to  the  expenses  of  the  inauguration  of 
President  Harding :  — 

It  is  a  national  event  of  quadrennial  occurrence,  and 
the  people  come.  They  will  be  here,  without  regard  to 
what  action  Congress  takes  .  .  .  and  the  only  thing 
that  is  contemplated,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  to  ask  suffi- 
cient funds  of  Congress  to  provide  for  the  safety  and 
comfort  of  the  people  who  will  be  here  when  that  event 
transpires. 

1  The  King's  English,  pp.  16,  24  note. 


SPECIAL  WORDS  AND   PHRASES  295 

TRY  AND  for  TRY  TO 

This  mistake  is  so  common  in  unstudied  every- 
day conversation  that  an  author  cannot  be  crit- 
icized for  using  it  in  reporting  conversations.  It 
is  mentioned  here  only  because  it  is  sometimes 
found  in  other  forms  of  composition,  and  has,  not 
infrequently,  to  be  "edited  out"  of  copy.  In  the 
examples  that  follow,  the  words  necessary  to  com- 
plete the  grammatical  construction  are  inserted  in 
brackets,  to  show  the  nature  of  the  solecism.  It 
is  worth  noting  that  "and"  instead  of  "to"  is 
not  used  with  synonyms  of  try,  as  "attempt"  or 
"endeavor." 

I  propose  to  try  and  [I  propose  to]  describe  the  events 
of  that  day. 

Mr.  Long  seems  inclined  to  try  and  [seems  inclined 
to]  throw  doubt  over  the  persecution  at  Lyons,  etc. 

WHILE 

While  originally  had  only  a  time  meaning,  as  in 
Nero  fiddled  while  Rome  was  burning. 
Thence  it  came,  by  extension,  to  be  used  to  de- 
note a  contrast;  in  this  sense  almost  equivalent 
to  whereas. 

The  Republican  Senators  voted  straight  to  a  man, 
while  several  Democrats  disregarded  the  party  whip 
and  voted  with  them. 

The  loose  and  inaccurate  use  of  the  word  — 
"the  vicious  while"  —  as  a  more  or  less  elegant 


296  DIVERS  MATTERS 

alternative  for  and  or  although  should  be  avoided. 
This  use  is  especially  frequent  in  newspaper  Eng- 
lish, but,  unhappily,  it  is  found  in  more  dignified 
composition. 

If  Great  Britain  and  America  agreed  .  .  .  they 
should  also  agree  that  .  .  .  they  would  make  common 
cause  to  enforce  it,  while  [and]  in  any  general  confer- 
ence .  .  .  they  would  command  a  majority,  etc. 

The  town  meeting,  therefore,  was  a  completely 
democratic  institution  in  only  one  of  its  aspects,  while 
[although]  it  came  to  have  great  influence  upon  both 
political  theory  and  practice. 


CONCLUSION 

"DES  communications  et  des  rencontres,  voila 
ce  qui  arrive  a  tout  lexicographe  en  qu^te  de  ma- 
teriaux."  This  remark,  with  which  Littre  begins 
the  preface  to  the  second  supplement  to  his  great 
dictionary,  has  more  than  once  struck  a  responsive 
chord  in  the  present  writer's  heart  when  he  has 
been  engaged  upon  some  task  which  consisted  to 
a  certain  extent  in  waiting  for  communications  et 
rencontres  from  sources  to  which  he  had  no  clue. 

So,  as  this  book  has  been  making  its  slow  pro- 
gress through  the  press,  he  has  found  himself  con- 
stantly happening  upon  what  seemed  to  him  bet- 
ter examples  than  those  he  had  chosen  of  some  of 
the  points  he  has  touched  upon.  Furthermore,  he 
has  often  been  beset  by  doubts  as  to  whether 
he  should  not  have  included  some  matters  that  he 
has  omitted.  He  has  yielded  in  some  degree  to  the 
temptation  to  substitute,  or  add,  new  examples; 
but  he  has  not  felt  justified  in  increasing  the  size 
of  the  book  by  going  outside  of  his  original  plan  — 
to  include  only  such  matters  as  have  been  brought 
to  his  attention  in  the  course  of  his  work  on  the 
"Atlantic"  and  Atlantic  books. 


INDEX 


A,  an.   See  Indefinite  Article. 

ABBREVIATIONS,  period  after, 
66,  67;  in  text,  163;  in  foot- 
notes, 167. 

Afterward,  195. 

Aldrich,  T.  B.,  294. 

Amid,  Amidst,  195,  196. 

Among,  Amongst,  195,  196. 

Ampersand,  165. 

And,  the  only  proper  correla- 
tive of  both,  237 ;  prepositions 
equivalent  to,  250,  251. 

A  nd  which  construction ,  2 1 3- 1 6 . 

Any,  misuse  of,  271. 

Anyone,  206  and  n. 

APOSTROPHE,  with  possessives 
ending  in  s,  161;  in  contrac- 
tions, 161  and  n. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  Functions  of 
Criticism,  137,  262. 

Article,  Indefinite.  See  Indefi- 
nite Article. 

As,  properly  a  conjunction, 
271,  272;  as  pseudo-relative, 
273.  And  see  Like. 

As  if,  273,  274- 

As  many  as,  273. 

.4  5  though,  used  for  as  if,  273, 
274. 

Atlantic  Monthly,  handling  of 
proofs  of,  37-40;  authors' 
corrections  in,  38  n. 

Atlantic  Monthly  Press,  i. 

Atlantic  usage,  generally,  38  n. 

Authors,  and  copy,  15-20,  61, 
62;  and  proofs,  62,  63. 

Backward,  195. 

Be  (subjunctive),  268. 

Besant,  Sir  Walter,  36. 


Besides,  274,  275. 

Booth,  W.  S.,  A  Practical  Guide 
for  Authors,  quoted  or  re- 
ferred to,  43,  1 80,  181  and  «., 
192. 

Both  .  .  .  and.  See  Correla- 
tives. 

BRACKETS,  uses  of,  145. 

Browning,  Robert,  quoted,  on 
proof-readers,  36. 

Calverley,  C.  S.,  "Forever," 
206. 

Canfield,  Dorothy,  The  Brim- 
ming Cup,  69. 

CAPITALIZATION,  lack  of  uni- 
formity in,  1 68;  consistency 
the  chief  end,  168;  Atlantic 
rules  for,  170-177;  and  the 
war,  178. 

Carbon  copies,  18. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  84. 

Century  Dictionary,  36,  70, 
117  n.,  189. 

Clay,  A.  T.,  247. 

Cobbett,  William,  career  of, 
8,  9;  his  English  Grammar, 
quoted  or  referred  to,  8,  9- 

13,  52,  73,  79  »-.  139,  163, 
166,  167,  211,  212,  213  and 
n.,  214  n.,  227,  242  «.,  244  n. 

Collective  nouns,  proper  use  of 
relatives  with,  208;  number 
of  verb  with,  244-48,  252;  an 
elastic  category,  244,  245. 

COLON,  formal  uses  of,  71,  72; 
chief  use  of,  in  Atlantic,  72  ff. 

COMMA,  and  semicolon,  diffi- 
culty of  drawing  definite 
lines  in  use  of,  89  and  n.,  90, 


300 


INDEX 


91 ;  modern  tendency  to  econ- 
omy in  use  of,  89,  90;  Atlan- 
tic rules  for  use  of,  91  ff.;  be- 
fore "and"  with  last  of  a 
series,  92,  93;  before  "not 
only,"  etc.,  97;  when  subject 
changes,  98 ;  with  parentheti- 
cal clauses,  99,  100,  110-13; 
after  certain  words  and 
phrases,  100-102;  with  par- 
ticipial clauses,  102;  after 
clauses  placed  out  of  natural 
order,  102-104;  between  sub- 
ject and  predicate,  104  ff.; 
between  verb  and  object, 
109,  no;  with  denning  and 
non-defining  clauses,  113-17; 
to  indicate  omission  of  words, 
117,  n8;  with  coordinate 
words  or  phrases,  118-21; 
never  used  with  single  dash, 
121 ;  when  used  with  dashes 
in  pairs,  121,  122,  and  with 
parentheses,  122,  123;  for- 
mal uses  of,  123,  124. 

COMMON  PARTS,  rule  relating 
to,  230;  examples  of  divers 
types  of  violation  of  rule, 
230-36. 

Compositors,  vagariesof ,  27, 28. 

COMPOUND  WORDS,  use  or  non- 
use  of  hyphen  in,  Sir  J.  Mur- 
ray on,  197,  198;  Hart's 
rules  concerning,  198  and  n., 
199,  204;  Summey  on,  201; 
different  categories  of,  202  ff. 
And  see  Nouns,  compound. 

Congressional  Record,  145,  167, 

211,  267,  294. 

Conjunctions,  coordinating  and 
subordinating,  90,  91.  And 
see  That  (conjunction). 

Coordination,  and  the  and 
which  construction,  216. 

Copy,  preparation  of,  15-20; 
punctuation  of,  61,  62;  di- 
rections to  "follow,"  62. 


Copy-holder,  duties  of,  26  and 

n.,  27. 
Correctors  of  the  press.     See 

Proof-readers. 
Correlatives,  proper  position  of, 

236-41- 

Cowper,  William,  31,  32. 
Crothers,  S.  M.,  277  n. 
Curves.  See  Parentheses. 

DASH,  single,  with  semicolon, 
87,  88;  sometimes  preferable 
to  comma,  in;  comma  not 
used  with,  121,  131;  formal 
uses  of,  I27,i28;otherusesof, 
1 28^".;  with  other  points,  132. 

DASHES  in  pairs,  comma  when 
used  with,  121,  122,  135;  to 
set  off  parenthetical  clauses, 
133  ff;  142,  I44»  And  see 
En-Dash,  Two-Em  Dash. 

De  Morgan,  W.,  127,  188  n. 

De  Vinne,  T.  L.,  quoted,  25, 
26  n.;  on  proof-readers,  31, 

33;89,  153  »-,  191- 

Denning  clauses,  116,  117. 
And  see  Relative  clauses. 

Dennison  Manufacturing  Co., 
62  n. 

Dexter,  "Lord"  Timothy,  64, 
65. 

Dickens,  Charles,  on  proof- 
readers, 35,  36;  peculiar  use 
of  colon  by,  76,  77 ;  and  com- 
ma between  subject  and  pre- 
dicate, 1 08. 

Dictionary  of  National  Biog- 
raphy, 36. 

Different  from,  or  different  to, 

275- 

Different  than,  275. 

Directly,  276. 

D' Israeli,  Isaac,  24. 

Division  of  words.  See  Syllabi- 
fication. 

Do,  as  substitute  for  other 
verbs,  276. 


INDEX 


301 


Doubt  that,  or  doubt   whether, 

277-79. 

Due  to,  279,280. 
Dunsany,  Lord,  224. 

Each,  used  with  singular  verb, 
248 ;  in  apposition  with  plural 
subject,  249. 

Either,  used  with  singular  verb, 
248. 

Either  ...  or.  See  Correla- 
tives. 

ELLIPSIS  POINTS,  restricted  use 
of,  in  "Atlantic,"  68,  69,  70. 

Emerson,  R.  W.,  on  proof- 
readers, 32;  and  comma  be- 
tween subject  and  verb,  105, 
108,  109;  spelling  of,  190  and 
n. ;  6, 138, 243, 254,  260  n. 

Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  24. 

En-Dash,  125. 

"English  spellings,"  192-95. 

Enumerations.  See  Series. 

Errors,  inevitability  of,  20,  21. 

Etc.,  &c.,  165,  166. 

Every,  used  with  singular  verb, 
248 ;  not  used  alone  except  as 
modifier,  249. 

Everyone,  206  and  n. 

Evidence,  as  verb,  266. 

EXCLAMATION  MARK,  with  true 
exclamations,  146  n.,  147; 
without  exclamatory  words, 
148;  interpolated,  in  brackets, 
148,  149;  with  other  points, 
149;  position  of  "quotes" 
with  reference  to,  149. 

Far,  281. 

Farther,  280-82. 

Fellow,  combinations  of,  with 

other  nouns,  not  hyphenated, 

205. 
Final  reader,  duties  of,  30,  38, 

39- 

First  reader,  duties  of,  26,  27; 
and  the  type-setting  ma- 
chine, 27,  28  and  n.,  29. 


Forever,  206. 

Forward,  195. 

Fowler,  H.  W.  and  F.  G.,  The 
King's  English,  quoted  or 
referred  to,  4-6,  13,  14,  55  n., 
57-59,  61,  70,  71,  74,  84,  85 
».,  86,  90,  91,  105,  106,  108, 
112  and  n.,  113,  120,  121, 
130,  132,  133  and  n.,  137, 
138,  143  «.,  146  ».,  147,  149, 
151  ».,  160,  161  and  n.,  210, 
211,  212,  216,  217,  224,  230 
and  n.,  237,  243,  244,  253, 
256  n.,  258,  261  ».,  262,  265, 
267  and  n.,  272,  275  n.,  278, 
289,  290,  291  ».,  294. 

Further.    See  Farther. 

Garrison,  Wendell  P.,  "A  Dis- 
solving View  of  Punctua- 
tion," quoted  or  referred  to, 
8,  52,  53,  64,  65,  72,  78,  79, 
88,  106,  148  n.,  150  n. 

Gender,  double  or  doubtful,  of 
singular  personal  antecedent. 
See  Pronouns. 

Glimpse,  as  verb,  266. 

Goldsmith,  Oliver,  24. 

Government    Printing    Office, 

189  n. 

H,  Hu,  form  of  indefinite  arti- 
cle before  words  beginning 
with,  269. 

Hajji  Baba,  Adventures  of 
(translation),  156  n. 

Hanging  participle,   264,   265. 

Hart,  Horace,  Rules  for  Com- 
positors and  Readers,  etc., 
quoted  or  referred  to,  8,  44, 
45»-,53,65,67».,73, 153»., 
181  n.,  197,  198,  199,  204, 
205. 

Hawthorne,  N.,  The  Scarlet 
Letter,  87,  235;  spelling  of, 

190  and  n. 

He,  him,  his,  and  antecedents 
of  double  gender,  253. 


302 


INDEX 


He  or  she,  his  or  her  (French  soi, 

son),  253. 

Howells,  W.  D.,  191. 
Huxley,  T.  H.,  113,  157,  272. 
HYPHEN,    140,    141.    And  see 

Compound  Words. 

Indefinite  article,  before  h  and 

u,  269. 
Indirect     question,      question 

mark  not  properly  used  with, 

151- 

Infinitive,  split.  See  Split  in- 
finitive. 

International  Dictionary.  See 
Webster's  Dictionary. 

ITALICS,  foreign  words  and 
phrases  set  in,  179-81;  dis- 
tinction between  anglicized 
and  foreign  words,  182;  used 
for  emphasis,  182-85;  pre- 
fixes sometimes  set  in,  203. 

James,  Henry,  and  the  comma, 

95,96, 144;  and  the  dash,  144; 

281. 

James,  William,  85,  192. 
Johnson,  Samuel,  24,  212. 
Johnston,  Sir  H.,  The  Man  who 

did  the  Right  Thing,  69  n. 
"Jumping    comparison,"    the, 

14,  15- 

Key-board  operators,  25,  26. 
King's  English,  The.   See  Fow- 
ler, H.  W.  and  F.  G. 

Landor,  W.  S.,  147. 

Lay,  282. 

Learned  languages,  Cobbett  on, 

10,  II. 

Leinstein,  Madame  de,  Punc- 
tuation in  Verse,  59,  60,  79, 
124,  132. 

Lie,  282. 

Like,  wrong  use  of,  for<w,  283. 

Loan,  as  verb,  266. 


-ly,  adjectives  ending  in,  used 
as  adverbs,  269,  270;  ad- 
verbs ending  in,  not  to  be 
connected  by  hyphens  with 
words  they  modify,  205; 
should  not  modify  other  ad- 
verbs with  same  ending,  270. 

Making-up,  30,  38. 

Meantime,  meanwhile,  283. 

Meredith,  George,  Diana  of  the 
Crossways,  6,  7,  83 ;  his  treat- 
ment of  quotations  and  quasi- 
quotations,  156,  157, 218  n. 

Mister,  164  and  n. 

Mistress,  164  n. 

Moore,  Annie  C.,  59. 

More,  P.  E.,  136. 

Morley,  Viscount,  246. 

Murray,  Sir  James  A.  H.,  44, 
197,  198. 

Neither,  or  not  the  proper  cor- 
relative of,  241;  used  with 
singular  verb,  248. 

Neither  .  .  .  nor.  See  Correla- 
tives. 

New  English  Dictionary,  197, 
276,  282. 

No,  not,  properly  followed  by 
or  or  nor?  234-36. 

Non-defining  clauses,  116,  117. 
And  see  Relative  clauses. 

Nor,  after  no,  not,  etc.,  234- 
36;  after  neither,  234  n. 

Not  only  .  .  .  but  also.  See 
Correlatives. 

Noun,  omission  of,  256;  verb 
used  as,  266. 

Nouns,  compound,  use  of  hy- 
phen in,  205,  206. 

0,  oh,  284. 

Object,  comma  between  verb 

and,  109,  no. 

Off,  wrong  use  of,  for  from,  284. 
On,  and  upon,  284-86. 


INDEX 


303 


One  (impersonal),  286,  287. 

Only,  often  misplaced,  287-89. 

Onto,  286. 

Or,  after  no,  not,  etc.,  234-36; 
improperly  used  as  correla- 
tive of  neither,  241. 

Orthography.  See  Spelling. 

Paragraphing,  19. 

PARENTHESES  (curves),  some- 
times preferable  to  commas, 
in;  commas,  when  used 
with,  122,  123;  when  prefer- 
able to  dashes,  137,  143; 
special  uses  of,  141,  142;  to 
enclose  parenthetical  mat- 
ter, 142-44. 

Parenthetical  clauses,  set  off  by 
commas,  99,  100,  110-13;  by 
dashes,  133  /.,  142,  144;  by 
parentheses,  142-44. 

Participial  clauses,  use  of  com- 
ma with,  102. 

Participle,  hanging.  See  Hang- 
ing participle.  • 

People,  singular  or  plural?  246. 

PERIOD,  the,  uses  of,  65;  posi- 
tion of,  with  reference  to 
other  points,  67  and  n. 

Periodic  arrangement  of  sen- 
tences, 57  /. 

Prefixes,  how  treated  in  com- 
binations, 202,  203. 

Prepositions  equivalent  to  and, 
effect  of,  on  number  of  verb, 

„  250,  251 . 

Pronouns,  number  of,  252-54; 
and  antecedents  of  double,  or 
doubtful,  gender,  253;  omis- 
sion of,  257.  And  see  Rela- 
tive pronouns. 

Pronunciation,  and  syllabifica- 
tion, 42,  45. 

Proof-readers,  fallibility  of,  21; 
first  employment  of,  24; 
divers  opinions  of,  as  a  class, 
30-32,  33,  35;  attitude  of 


authors  toward,  31-33;  char- 
acteristics of,  generally,  33, 
34,  36.  And  see  Copy-hold- 
er, Final  reader,  First  reader, 
Queries. 

Proof-reading,  history  of,  23- 
26;  effect  on,  of  introduction 
of  type-setting  machines,  25 

/. 

Proofs,  galley,  26  ff. ;  page,  30 
/.;  plate,  39. 

PUNCTUATION,  divers  views  on, 
52  ff.;  main  purpose  of,  to 
assist  the  reader,  54,  55; 
theory  of  treatment  of,  in 
Atlantic  usage,  55,  56,  63; 
and  "periodic arrangement," 
57  ff- ;  author's  wishes,  how 
far  consulted,  61-63;  "open" 
and  "close"  systems  of, 


Quasi-quotations,  use  of 
"quotes"  with,  155-58. 

Queries,  by  proof-readers,  30 
ff. ;  proper  subjects  of,  34  ff. 

QUESTION  MARK,  uses  of,  150; 
interpolated,  in  brackets,  151 
and  n.,  repetition  of,  152; 
improper  with  indirect  ques- 
tion, 152;  position  of,  with 
reference  to  "quotes,"  152. 

QUOTATION  MARKS  ("quotes "), 
single,  use  of,  in  Atlantic,  3, 
153;  position  of,  with  refer- 
ence to  other  points,  in  At- 
lantic usage,  67,  78,  88,  149, 
152,  154,  and  in  English 
usage,  154  n;  use  of,  with 
other  than  direct  quota- 
tions, 154-59;  unnecessary, 
160,  161. 

Quotations  from  foreign  lan- 
guages, 1 8,  19. 

Relative  clauses,  defining  and 
non-defining,  distinction  be- 


304 


INDEX 


tween,  113,  114,  219,  220; 
comma  and,  114,  115;  that 
and  which  in  denning,  218- 

25- 

Relative  pronoun,  omission  of, 
when  justifiable,  225-27;  ex- 
amples of  curious  use  of,  227, 
228. 

Riverside  Press,  "modified 
Webster"  spelling  used  at, 
1 86  ff.;  Handbook  of  Style  is- 
sued by,  200. 

Roman  numerals,  omission  of 
period  after,  56,  57,  66. 

Rumford  Press,  40. 

Ruskin,  John,  Sesame  and  Lil- 
ies, 6,  7,  64,  114,  122,  124, 
132;  his  erratic  punctuation, 
64,  83,  84,  105,  124,  139,  236, 
254,  260. 

Sala,  G.  A.,  65. 

Scudder,  Horace  E.,  on  punc- 
tuation, 54. 

Sedgwick,  Anne  Douglas,  80. 

SEMICOLON,  confusion  in  rules 
for  use  of,  78,  79;  and  dash, 
87,  88;  position  of,  with  ref- 
erence to  quotes,  88.  And 
see  Comma. 

Sense,  as  verb,  266. 

Sentence,  "complete,"  65  and 
«.,  66. 

Series,  semicolons  in,  81,  86, 
87;  commas  in,  92-96. 

Shall  and  will,  289-92. 

Shaw,  G.  Bernard,  161. 

Sheridan,  R.  B.,  65. 

Should  and  would,  289-92. 

Someone,  206  and  n. 

"Spaces,"  rules  for  use  of,  49, 
50. 

Spacing,  even,  its  bearing  on 
division  of  words,  41,  45; 
difficulty  of  securing,  50,  51 
and  n.;  punctuation  and,  63. 

Spectator,  The,  210. 


SPELLING,  in  Atlantic  usage, 
iS6  ff.;  forms  not  preferred 
by  Webster,  187,  188;  divers 
views  on,  190-92 ;  words  end- 
ing in  /,  p,  r,  t,  etc.,  188,  189; 
words  ending  in  ise,  ize,  193; 
special  words,  195, 196.  And 
see  English  spellings. 

Split  infinitive,  218  «.,  267, 
268. 

Stage,  as  verb,  266. 

Standard  Dictionary,  189. 

Stephen,  H.  L.,  8,  10,  12. 

Subject,  comma  between  verb 
and,  104-109;  verb  should 
agree  in  number  with,  242  ff. 

Subjunctive  forms,  268. 

Summey,  George,  Jr.,  Modern 
Punctuation,  quoted  or  re- 
ferred to,  7,  8,  53,  54,  63, 
68,  69,  73,  74,  113  ».,  132, 

134,  135,  14°.  i4if  J42.  201 
and  «.,  203  n. 

SYLLABIFICATION,  generally,  3; 
confusion  of  "authorities" 
concerning,  41-45;  various 
"systems"  of,  42,  43,  45; 
Atlantic  rules  for,  45  ff.; 
abnormal,  cases  of,  47  n. 

Than,  properly  a  conjunction, 
271,  272. 

Than  whom,  211-13. 

That  (conjunction),  use  of 
comma  with,  112;  omission 
of,  when  justifiable,  258-61; 
repetition  of,  262;  use  of, 
with  "doubt,"  277-79. 

That  (relative  pronoun),  when 
used  with  personal  antece- 
dent, 207;  with  collective 
nouns,  208;  with  mixed  ante- 
cedent, 209;  in  general,  216, 
217;  not  used  in  non-defin- 
ing clauses,  217,  218;  choice 
between,  and  which,  in  defin- 
ing clauses,  218-25. 


INDEX 


305 


Their,  theirs,  them,  they,  not  to 
be  used  referring  to  singular 
antecedents,  252,  253,  or  to 
one,  286. 

Till,  196. 

To-day,  to-morrow,  to-night,  203 
and  n.,  204  n. 

Toward,  195,  196. 

Transpire,  294. 

Tree,  in  combinations,  not  hy- 
phenated, 205, 

Try  and  for  try  to,  295. 

Two-em  Dash,  125-27. 

Tyndall,  John,  157. 

Type-setting  machines,  effect 
of  introduction  of,  in  proof- 
reading, 25,  26. 

U,  indefinite  article  before  cer- 
tain words  beginning  with, 
269. 

University  of  Chicago  Press, 
Handbook  of  Style,  42,  43, 
8l,  117  n.,  168,  180,  181, 
199,  200,  204,  205. 

Until,  196. 

Verb,  and  subject,  comma  be- 
tween, 104-109;  and  object, 
comma  between,  109,  no; 
should  agree  in  number  with 
subject,  242  ff.;  number  of, 
with  collective  nouns,  244- 
48;  with  each,  etc.,  248,  249; 
omission  of,  when  justifiable, 
255>  256;  noun  used  as,  266. 


Webster,  Noah,  "his  improved 
spellings  a  precious  heritage," 
190,  191;  other  views,  191, 
192. 

Webster's  Dictionary,  orthog- 
raphy of,  and  Atlantic  usage, 
i86jf. 

Wells,  H.  G.,  68. 

Were  (subjunctive),  268. 

Whether,  use  of,  with  "doubt," 
278,  279. 

Which,  not  used  with  personal 
antecedent,  217;  with  col- 
lective nouns,  when,  208;  in 
non-defining  clauses,  217; 
choice  between  that  and,  in 
defining  clauses,  2 1 8-2  5.  And 
see  And  which,  Than  whom. 

While,  misuse  of,  295,  296. 

Whitaker's  Almanac,  30. 

Who,  whom,  with  personal  an- 
tecedent, 207;  in  defining 
clauses,  207,  208;  with  col- 
lective nouns,  208;  with  ani- 
mate creatures  other  than 
man,  209.  And  see  Than 
whom. 

Whoever,  whomever,  whosoever, 
whomsoever,  228,  229. 

Whom,    improperly    used    for 

who,  210,  211. 

Will.    See  Shall. 

Woolley,  E.  C.,  Handbook  of 

Composition,     quoted,     132, 

I5in. 

Worcester's  Dictionary,  189. 
Would.     See  Should. 


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